THE  JAMES  K.  MOFFITT    FUND. 


LIBRARY  OF  THK   UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


GIFT    OF 

JAMES    KENNEDY   MOFFITT 

OF  THE    CLASS   OF 


Accession  No. 


Class  No- 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

SELECTED   ESS  ATS 


,-.. « 

CAL  • 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 


SELECTED    ESSATS 


WITH   A    MEMOIR   BY 
EVELYN   SCHUYLER   SCHAEFFER 


NEW   YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1901 


COPYRIGHT,  1901,  BY 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW  DIRECTORY 

PRINTING  AND  BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 
NEW  YORK 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

EUGENE  SCHUYLER    ! 

COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY  TWENTY  YEARS  AGO  .     .  205 
THE  MINNESOTA  HEIR  OF  A  SERBIAN  KING  .     .  301 

THE  LOST  PLANT 321 

INDEX 351 


96259 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

A  MEMOIR 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

A  MEMOIR 


It  is  almost  as  difficult  to  describe  a  man  of 
magnetic  personality  as  to  paint  the  portrait  of 
a  face  remembered  rather  by  its  changing  ex 
pression  than  by  its  features.  To  those  who 
have  known  the  man  a  hint  may  be  enough;  for 
the  stranger  he  can  hardly  be  made  to  live  again, 
even  with  the  help  of  his  own  letters.  Yet 
one  would  like  to  preserve  some  record,  however 
inadequate,  of  a  most  unusual  character. 

Eugene  Schuyler  was  born  at  Ithaca,  New 
York,  February  26,  1840.  On  his  father's  side 
his  ancestry  was  altogether  Dutch,  unless  one 
takes  into  account  the  one  drop  of  French  blood 
some  six  generations  back;  and  it  is  perhaps 
the  absence,  unusual  in  America,  of  a  mixture 
of  nationalities,  that  has  caused  a  persistence, 
from  generation  to  generation,  of  certain  quali- 

3 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

ties.  In  the  seventeenth  century  Philip  Pieterse 
van  Schuyler  was  a  man  of  prominence,  especially 
distinguished  for  his  services  to  the  State  in  the 
negotiation  of  treaties  with  the  Indians,  and  for 
his  success  in  keeping  up  the  subsequent  friendly 
relations  with  those  difficult  allies.  He  treated 
the  Indians  with  a  wisdom  which  insured  him 
their  friendship  during  his  life,  and  even  per 
petuated  his  memory  to  such  an  extent  that 
many  years  after  his  death  they  presented  to 
his  youngest  daughter  two  thousand  acres  of 
land  "  in  remembrance  of  the  kindness  of  her 
father  and  mother."  That  his  descendants  fol 
lowed  in  his  footsteps  is  abundantly  shown  by 
the  colonial  records. 

George  Washington  Schuyler,  the  father  of 
Eugene  Schuyler,  was  born  at  Stillwater-on-the- 
Hudson,  February  2,  1810,  but  spent  his  boy 
hood  as  well  as  his  later  life  in  Ithaca,  his 
father  having  removed  there  in  1811.  The  fam 
ily  had  become  less  prosperous  than  of  old,  and 
it  was  only  by  great  determination  and  per 
severance  that  he  was  able  to  get  the  educa 
tion  that  he  desired.  He  graduated  at  the  Uni 
versity  of  the  City  of  New  York,  taking  the 
Junior  and  Senior  studies  in  one  year,  with  He 
brew  in  addition;  at  the  same  time  supporting 

4 


A  MEMOIR 

himself  by  acting  as  private  tutor  to  two  stu 
dents.  Even  with  the  lower  standards  of  those 
days  this  might  be  called  a  good  year's  work. 
He  next  studied  theology,  but  for  family  reasons 
gave  up  his  studies  when  near  the  end  of  the 
course,  and  entered  upon  mercantile  life,  where 
his  abilities  and  sagacity  would  have  yielded  him 
a  fortune  had  it  not  been  for  the  never-ending 
demands  upon  his  generosity.  Naturally  of  a 
cheerful  and  genial  disposition,  very  generous, 
unselfish  and  conscientious,  and  strongly  relig 
ious,  the  self-denials  and  repressions  of  his  youth, 
and  especially  the  rigorous  and  gloomy  Calvin- 
istic  form  of  religion  in  which  he  had  been 
brought  up,  had  their  effect  upon  him  in  making 
him  in  early  life  too  serious;  only  in  his  later  years 
did  he  learn  to  sympathise  with  less  strenuous 
views  and  habits  of  thought. 

Always  public-spirited  and  ardent,  his  influ 
ence  soon  extended  beyond  the  confines  of  the 
village.  Much  as  he  loved  the  approval  of  his 
fellows,  the  unpopularity  of  a  cause  never  de 
terred  him  from  embracing  it.  The  Abolition 
movement  found  in  him  a  warm  supporter  at  a 
time  when  to  support  it  meant  not  merely  un 
popularity,  but  some  petty  persecution.  He  not 
only  became  an  agent  of  the  famous  "  under- 

5 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

ground  railway,"  but  took  negroes  into  his  own 
employment  whenever  he  could,  and  struggled 
valiantly  to  engraft  upon  the  irresponsible  negro 
temperament  something  of  his  own  reliability — 
it  must  be  confessed  with  not  very  flattering 
results.  Later  he  was  much  in  public  life,  serv 
ing  successively  as  Treasurer  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  Superintendent  of  the  Banking  De 
partment,  Member  of  the  Assembly,  and  Audi 
tor  of  the  Canal  Department,  and  was  instru 
mental  in  securing  the  adoption  of  several  im 
portant  measures.  His  integrity  was  so  unas 
sailable  that  even  in  times  of  great  excitement 
he  escaped  the  personal  attacks  which  usually 
seem  to  be  an  inseparable  accompaniment  of 
political  prominence.  A  trustee  of  Cornell  Uni 
versity  from  its  foundation,  his  judgment  and  re 
source  did  much  to  tide  it  over  its  early  financial 
difficulties  and  place  it  on  a  lasting  foundation. 

The  achievement  of  his  life  which  probably 
gave  him  most  pleasure  was  the  preparation 
and  publication  of  his  book,  "  Colonial  New 
York — Philip  Schuyler  and  his  Family,"  which 
he  published  when  he  was  seventy-six  years  old, 
and  which  is  accepted  as  an  authority  on  the 
subjects  of  which  it  treats. 

He  married,  in  April,  1839,  Matilda  Scribner, 
6 


A  MEMOIR 

daughter  of  Uriah  Rogers  Scribner,  one  of  the 
old  merchants  of  New  York,  but  of  a  New  Eng 
land  family.  Mrs.  Schuyler  was  a  woman  of 
much  beauty  and  of  an  individuality  at  once 
strong  and  delicate.  Her  extreme  shyness  and 
modest  estimate  of  herself  prevented  her  from 
being  known  outside  of  a  small  circle,  but  those 
who  knew  her  intimately  were  aware  that  she 
possessed  much  insight,  and  a  remarkable  gift  of 
terse  expression;  but  she  had  a  horror  of  unchar 
itable  comment,  which  she  always  repressed  in 
her  children;  and  such  was  her  self-control  that, 
during  their  childhood  and  youth,  at  least  one 
of  them  can  never  remember  having  heard  her 
speak  severely  of  any  one.  Physically  timid  and 
subject  to  all  the  discomforts  entailed  by  a  highly 
strung  nervous  temperament,  her  moral  courage 
was  of  the  highest  type.  She  lived  eighty-nine 
years,  and  to  the  end  of  her  life  could  adapt 
herself  to  new  circumstances  and  assimilate  new 
ideas. 

Like  her  husband,  Mrs.  Schuyler  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  strictest  traditions  of  puri- 
tanism,  and  during  the  earlier  years  of  their 
married  life  they  were  placed  in  an  environ 
ment  which  only  strengthened  the  impressions 
already  given.  The  village  of  Ithaca  was  sharply 

7 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

divided  between  the  godly  and  the  ungodly,  the 
former  being  of  the  bluest  dye  of  Calvinism.  As 
time  went  on,  religious  beliefs  were  slowly 
softened,  and  in  any  case  persons  of  the  natural 
characteristics  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schuyler  would 
necessarily  have  outgrown  the  severe  creed  of 
their  youth.  They  both  became  in  the  highest 
degree  tolerant  and  liberal,  while  never  losing  the 
peculiar  conscientiousness  which  strongly  charac 
terised  them  both;  though  the  manifestations  were 
different.  The  descendant  of  Dutchmen  bears 
his  conscience  with  better  cheer  than  the  New 
Englander  can  ever  learn  to  do.  But  this  de 
velopment  came  later.  The  world  into  which 
their  children  were  born  was  a  serious  world. 

Eugene  was  a  beautiful  and  clever  child.  To 
him,  to  learn  was  a  delight.  Mentally  and  phys 
ically  he  was  alert  for  new  impressions.  He 
loved  flowers,  animals,  pictures,  music,  good 
things  to  eat,  and  made  nice  distinctions  as  to 
the  relations  between  taste  and  smell.  Certain 
flowers  belonged  on  the  dinner-table  with  cer 
tain  articles  of  food — for  instance,  sweet  peas 
went  with  roast  beef.  Alphabet  blocks  taught 
him  his  letters  before  he  could  pronounce  them, 
and  he  learned  to  read  about  the  time  he  learned  to 
talk.  What  a  friend  of  later  years  called  his  esprit 

8 


A  MEMOIR 

chercheur  always  impelled  him  not  only  to  leave 
no  question  unsolved,  but  no  sensation  untried. 

As  a  boy  he  attended  the  old  Ithaca  Acad 
emy,  but  did  not  confine  himself  to  its  rather 
limited  curriculum.  On  spring  and  summer  af 
ternoons,  after  school,  he  went  on  botanical  ex 
peditions  and  became  learned  in  the  flora  of 
the  region,  even  to  discovering  species  hitherto 
unknown  in  that  locality;  and  a  warm  friend 
ship  sprang  up  between  him  and  an  eminent 
botanist  in  a  neighbouring  village.  In  short,  his 
mind  was  open  in  all  directions;  but  with  an 
especial  taste  for  literature  and  a  very  unusual 
gift  for  languages.  At  twelve  years  old  he  be 
gan  to  take  lessons  on  the  piano,  of  a  Scotch 
woman  who  was  a  character  in  the  town;  an 
eccentric  person,  not  without  genius,  a  warm 
friend  and  an  equally  warm  enemy;  with  a  keen 
sense  of  beauty  and  an  admiration  of  clever 
ness.  A  pagan  herself,  she  did  not  escape  her 
Calvinistic  inheritance,  and  was  of  a  severe  turn 
of  mind  in  the  matter  of  religion,  being  fiercely 
intolerant  of  the  intolerant  Orthodox.  Her 
commanding  height  and  generous  amplitude, 
with  her  taste  for  striking  and  bizarre  costumes, 
made  her  a  figure  to  be  remembered.  She  took 
her  bright  pupil  in  great  affection,  and  the 

9 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

middle-aged  woman  and  the  clever  boy  of 
twelve  conversed  on  terms  of  intellectual  equal 
ity;  and  for  many  years — as  long  as  she  remained 
in  Ithaca — he  was  in  the  habit  of  going  to  see 
her  during  his  visits  there.  As  to  the  piano,  he 
learned  in  two  years  all  that  she  could  teach 
him,  and  to  the  end  of  his  life  played  much — 
with  no  great  technical  skill,  but  with  much 
musical  feeling.  His  unusual  facility  in  playing 
at  sight  was  always  a  source  of  pleasure  to  him 
self  and  others. 

As  a  playmate  he  was  considered  desirable,  by 
the  girls  as  much  as  by  the  boys.  Whatever 
the  game,  he  put  into  it  something  new  and 
original  that  at  once  made  it  different  from  all 
other  games.  I  was  but  seldom  admitted  to 
the  amusements  of  my  elders,  but  sometimes  it 
was  desirable  to  swell  the  number,  and  then  I 
came  in  as  a  great  treat.  In  one  game,  where 
the  person  pointed  at  by  the  one  who  was  "  It " 
had  to  drop  down  dead,  I  was  nearly  fright 
ened  out  of  my  wits,  and  on  seeing  this,  Eugene 
confessed  to  me,  small  as  I  was,  that  he  too  felt 
very  creepy,  and  was  going  to  give  up  that 
game.  He  was  always  fond  of  children  and 
ready  to  take  trouble  for  them.  I  was  once  shut 

out  of  the  play-room  for  days  that  seemed  like 

10 


A  MEMOIR 

centuries,  and  then  admitted  and  presented  with 
a  beautiful  doll's  house  which  he  had  made  in  a 
low  chimney  cupboard.  He  had  made  every 
thing  with  his  own  hands,  even  to  the  chande 
liers  of  steel  beads  strung  on  wires,  with  candles 
made  of  wax  matches,  with  the  inflammable  ends 
burned  off  to  make  them  look  more  natural. 
During  one  of  his  college  vacations  he  happened 
to  come  into  the  room  where  I  was  playing  with 
paper  dolls,  and  was  struck  with  the  ugly  colours 
of  the  frocks  which  they  had  brought  with  them 
from  the  shop.  With  him,  to  see  a  thing  wrong 
was  to  want  to  set  it  right,  from  paper  dolls  to 
the  Sublime  Porte,  and  he  at  once  sat  down 
with  my  paint-box  and  made  such  beautiful 
paper  dolls'  dresses  that  they  were  treasured  until 
they  fell  apart  with  much  handling. 

At  fourteen  he  was  prepared  to  enter  Yale 
College,  but  his  youth,  and  especially  his  youth 
ful  appearance,  made  his  parents  hesitate  about 
sending  him  away  from  home,  and  it  was  de 
cided  to  delay  for  a  year.  His  constitution  was 
somewhat  delicate  and  extremely  susceptible. 
At  that  time  the  importance  of  physical  culture 
was  not  recognised  as  it  is  now.  Nature,  if  let 
alone,  is  apt  to  look  out  for  a  growing  boy,  and, 
by  merely  following  his  natural  bent,  the  average 

ii 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

boy  becomes  hardy,  in  case  he  does  not  break  his 
neck  or  drown  himself  by  the  way.  But  the 
anxious  mother  of  her  first  boy  was  only  too 
thankful  that  his  tastes  did  not  lead  him  in  the 
direction  of  hair-breadth  escapes.  His  boyish 
longings  of  that  sort  were  the  more  easily 
checked  since  he  had  so  many  other  resources, 
and  if  a  dangerous  amusement  were  forbidden 
he  could  usually  turn  with  interest  to  a  safe  one; 
so  that  he  never  gained  the  physical  hardening 
which  most  boys  get — a  lack  which  he  deplored 
all  his  life.  Learning  to  swim  could  not  be 
helped  if  a  boy  were  a  boy  at  all,  and  a  certain 
amount  of  other  sports,  but  it  was  always  the 
minimum  amount. 

At  fifteen  he  was  only  a  rosy-cheeked  little 
boy,  and  left  off  his  boyish  "  roundabout "  and 
put  on  his  first  "  tail-coat "  the  day  before  he 
started  for  college.  He  had  still  been  attending 
the  Academy,  and  it  was  felt  by  the  trustees 
that  he  had  conferred  such  lustre  on  that  insti 
tution  that  when  he  left  they  sent  him  three 
large  volumes  of  "  Selections  from  the  British 
Poets,"  with  a  complimentary  letter.  The  crit 
ical  instinct  was  ever  strong  in  him  and  struggled 
with  his  natural  gratification;  and  from  his  New 
England  ancestors  he  inherited  an  almost  irre- 

12 


A  MEMOIR 

pressible  instinct  to  speak  what  he  thought.  He 
expressed  his  gratitude  properly,  however,  and 
perhaps  it  was  only  the  sympathetic  little  sister, 
hardly  old  enough  to  know  what  "  British  Poets  " 
meant,  who  quite  understood  that  while  in  one 
way  Eugene  was  delighted,  yet  one  poet's  com 
plete  works  were  rather  nicer  to  have  than  an 
other  man's  selections  from  all  of  them.  He 
loved  books.  Children  did  not  have  much 
spending  money  then,  but  one  of  his  earliest 
purchases  and  the  very  first  book  he  ever  bought 
was  "  Lalla  Rookh,"  a  welcome  change  from  the 
serious  volumes  of  his  father's  library. 

The  impression  made  on  him  by  the  stern 
religious  beliefs  in  which  he  had  been  brought 
up  was  not  apparent;  but  on  the  one  hand  they 
drove  him  in  the  direction  of  negation,  and  on 
the  other  they  added  to  the  enjoyment  of  his 
later  life  by  the  piquancy  of  the  contrast.  He 
seemed  an  incarnate  reaction  from  the  whole 
system — as  if  he  represented  those  tastes  and 
impulses  which  the  hardships  of  life  and  the 
severities  of  religion  had  compelled  his  parents 
to  extinguish  for  a  time  in  themselves.  He 
was  affectionate  and  extraordinarily  loyal.  With 
him  a  friendship  once  formed  was  enduring,  and 
survived  disillusionment.  Equally  strong  was  his 

13 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

feeling  for  the  tie  of  blood;  and  he  retained 
his  interest  in  his  own  kin,  even  through  the 
gradations  of  diminishing  relationship.  The  live 
liness  of  his  interest  and  his  power  of  placing 
himself  in  imaginary  situations,  of  which  he  ar 
ranged  even  the  smallest  details,  often  made  him 
feel  a  strong  desire  to  arrange  matters  for  his 
friends;  but  while  he  had  a  somewhat  authori 
tative  way  of  advising,  his  sense  of  humour  kept 
him  from  expecting  his  advice  to  be  taken.  On 
the  other  hand  his  remarkable  magnetism  gave 
him  a  certain  compelling  power,  and  the  people 
about  him  were  very  apt  to  do  as  he  wished. 

The  interest  which  he  so  freely  gave  to  others 
he  liked  to  receive  in  return.  He  wanted  sym 
pathy — he  liked  to  expand — he  could  not  exist 
without  telling  someone  what  he  was  doing  and 
thinking  and  reading;  and  it  was  not  difficult 
for  him  to  get  the  sympathy  he  wanted,  since 
he  always  made  himself  interesting.  A  friend 
once  said  of  him,  "  If  Schuyler  is  taken  up  with 
dry  bones,  you  become  intensely  interested  in 
dry  bones  yourself,  and  are  ready  to  believe  that 
you  have  cared  for  nothing  else  all  your  life." 

With  all  these  captivating  ways  he  was  sub 
ject  to  gusts  of  irritation,  generally  unreason 
able  and  harmless,  and  frequently  laughable  in 

14 


A  MEMOIR 

their  half-comic  whimsicality.  Where  he  did 
himself  a  more  serious  injustice  was  in  an  occa 
sional  coldness  of  manner  which  was  at  times 
even  repellent.  Sometimes  this  was  caused  by 
a  shyness  which  but  few  people  suspected — the 
less  since  it  was  of  the  intermittent  variety — 
sometimes,  it  may  have  been,  by  a  mood  of  dis 
content  or  depression,  or  even  by  the  simple 
fact  that  he  was  bored.  His  temperament  in 
clined  him  to  a  sudden  loss  of  self-control  which 
surprised  and  vexed  no  one  more  than  himself. 

In  college  he  did  not  work  for  honours,  but 
rather  from  simple  interest  and  pleasure  in  learn 
ing.  Some  honours  came,  however.  In  his  jun 
ior  year  he  took  a  Clark  premium  for  excel 
lence  in  Latin,  and  in  his  senior  year  a  Berkeley 
premium  for  Latin  composition.  At  graduation 
he  stood  fifth  in  a  class  of  105,  and  had  the  rank 
of  Philosophical  Oration,  taking  also  the  Berke 
ley  and  Clark  Scholarships. 

His  classmate  and  friend,  Professor  Arthur  W. 
Wright,  of  Yale  University,  has  written  of  his  col 
lege  life: 

"  Schuyler  was  the  youngest  member  of  the 
class  of  1859,  and  when  he  first  appeared  at 
Yale  he  seemed  to  have  but  just  emerged  from 
childhood.  Even  then,  however,  he  possessed 

15 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

a  strong  personality,  and  it  was  not  long  before 
he  gave  evidence  of  powers  of  acquisition  and  a 
critical  faculty  which,  before  the  close  of  the 
four  years,  placed  him  in  the  foremost  rank 
among  the  scholars  of  the  class.  He  had  a  nat 
ural  aptitude,  as  well  as  a  taste,  for  exact  schol 
arship  and  wide  culture.  It  was  evident  that  he 
was  destined  to  take  a  high  place  as  a  scholar, 
and  his  later  successes  were  no  surprise  to  those 
who  had  known  him  well  while  here. 

"  In  his  personal  character  perhaps  the  most 
prominent  trait  was  a  refinement  and  elevation 
of  sentiment,  which  showed  itself  not  only  in 
his  intellectual  activities,  but  even  in  his  bear 
ing,  his  manner,  and  his  dress.  With  this,  a 
certain  reserve,  a  strong  individuality,  independ 
ence  of  opinion,  and  the  highly  intellectual  and 
scholarly  tone  of  his  conversation  raised  him 
decidedly  above  the  ordinary  and  the  common 
place,  and  gave  an  air  of  aristocratic  distinction 
to  everything  he  did.  While  this  made  him 
appear  sometimes  as  if  lacking  in  warmth  of 
disposition,  those  whom  he  honoured  with  his 
confidence  and  intimacy  were  often  surprised  by 
an  almost  child-like  expression  of  friendliness 
and  affection,  which  revealed  the  capability  of 
deeper  feeling  beneath  the  veil  of  his  reserve.  I 
have  always  felt  that  his  was  a  rare  personality, 
and  that  his  early  departure  was  a  great  loss, 
great  to  the  world  of  scholarship,  and  especially  so 
to  those  who  had  learned  to  know  and  admire  him." 

16 


A  MEMOIR 

II 

After  his  graduation,  in  1859,  he  remained  in 
New  Haven  for  two  years,  pursuing  his  studies, 
and  was  the  first  to  receive  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Philosophy  there  in  1861.  During  this  time 
he  wrote  a  long  and  elaborate  review  of  Wedg 
wood's  "  English  Etymology,"  and  was  gratified 
and  amused  at  receiving  from  Professor  Wedg 
wood  a  letter  discussing  certain  points,  and 
assuming  that  the  youthful  (and  severe)  critic 
was  a  venerable  professor.  He  had  also  begun 
working  on  the  revision  of  Webster's  "  Diction 
ary,"  which  appeared  in  July,  1864 — his  particular 
duty  being  the  revision  of  Dr.  Mahn's  etymolog 
ical  contributions. 

He  studied  law  at  Columbia  College  (LL.B.  in 
1863),  not  because  the  profession  especially  at 
tracted  him,  but  rather  because  he  had  not  as 
yet  found  anything  that  seemed  to  him  more 
desirable.  In  December,  1862,  he  wrote  to  a 
friend : 

"  I  like  the  law  much  better  than  I  did  at  first. 
One  reason  is  that  I  know  more  about  it,  and 
another  that  I  am  so  constantly  occupied  with  it 
that  I  can't  help  getting  interested  in  it.  ... 
Somehow  or  other,  writing  essays  and  reviews 
VOL.  I.— 2  17 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

is  just  now  a  mania  with  me,  and  I  sketch  out 
plenty  of  them  in  my  head,  none  of  which  I 
shall  ever  finish,  such  is  my  accustomed  procras 
tination." 

Some  months  later  he  wrote  to  the  same  per 
son: 

"  I  understand  that  Mr.  is  astonished  at 

my  eagerness  to  see  sights.  I  do  not  think  that 
I  have  anything  more  than  a  laudable  curiosity. 
I  seldom  go  out  of  my  way  to  see  anything,  but 
if  anything  comes  along  I  consider  it  a  duty 
which  I  owe  to  my  general  education,  as  well  as 
a  reasonable  source  of  pleasure  to  know  what  is 
to  be  known." 

i 

After  graduating  he  went  for  a  time  into  the 

office  of  Messrs.  Weeks,  De  Forest  &  Forster, 
and  afterwards  into  that  of  Messrs.  Lewis  &  Cox. 
Later  he  opened  an  office  with  Mr.  James  Bruyn 
Andrews.  During  these  years  he  was  writing 
for  the  Round  Table  and  the  New  Path,  besides 
occasional  contributions  to  the  New  Englander, 
the  North  American  Review,  and  other  periodicals, 
and  was  a  contributor  to  the  Nation  from  the 
time  of  its  first  appearance  to  the  end  of  his 
life. 

His   summer   vacations   were   spent   in    Ithaca, 

where  his  arrival  was  the  signal  for  a  series  of 

18 


A  MEMOIR 

festivities.  Those  at  his  father's  house  were  al 
ways  arranged  by  him,  and  were  distinguished 
by  some  novelty;  it  might  be  a  morning  dance 
and  luncheon  (an  unheard-of  thing  at  that  time), 
or  it  might  be  a  supper  with  an  odd  menu — 
whatever  it  was,  it  brought  variety  into  the  small 
circle  whose  interest  had  become  somewhat 
jaded. 

In  the  summer  of  1864  he  had  had  a  flattering 
request  from  Professor  Norton  (at  that  time 
editor  of  the  North  American  Review),  for  a  forty- 
page  article,  to  which  he  expected  to  devote  the 
vacation.  Accordingly,  having  told  me,  a  girl 
in  my  teens,  that  I  was  to  write  stories  and  be 
come  in  time  a  distinguished  author,  he  took 
me  with  him  every  morning  into  the  large,  cool 
dining-room,  seated  me  at  a  table,  and  bade  me 
write.  His  own  place  was  at  an  old  mahogany 
desk,  where  he  had  a  great  array  of  writing  mate 
rials.  Once  there  he  was  seized  by  the  horreur 
de  la  plume  and  wouldn't  write  a  word.  I,  how 
ever,  was  not  allowed  to  be  idle,  and  wrote 
Heaven  knows  what  nonsense,  he  supplying  the 
names  of  the  characters  and  telling  me  to  put 
in  "  plenty  of  conversation  and  incident."  He 
wrote  letters,  talked  to  me,  spread  out  his  serious 
sheets  of  paper,  and  then  rushed  out  into  the 

19 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

garden  and  brought  in  flowers  to  arrange,  and 
so  on,  until  it  was  time  for  the  table  to  be  laid 
for  the  midday  meal;  and  the  forty-page  article 
did  not  get  written  that  summer. 

His  interest  in  Russia  began  in  1863,  when 
he  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  number  of  the 
officers  of  the  Russian  flagship  which  was  for  a 
time  stationed  off  New  York.  The  opportunity 
to  learn  a  new  language  was  too  great  a  tempta 
tion  to  be  resisted,  and  he  secured  a  teacher  in 
the  person  of  a  priest  connected  with  the  Greek 
Church  in  New  York.  In  the  summer  of  1867 
he  published  a  translation  of  Turguenief  s  "  Fath 
ers  and  Sons." 

About  the  end  of  the  year  1866  he  was  asked 
to  edit  a  translation  of  selections  from  the  "  Kal- 
evala,"  made  just  before  his  death  by  the  late 
Professor  John  A.  Porter,  of  Yale  College.  This 
involved  an  Introduction  and  Analysis,  and  with 
his  usual  thoroughness  he  prepared  himself  by 
a  careful  study  of  the  poem  in  the  original, 
learning  the  Finnish  language  for  the  purpose. 
His  introduction  is  dated  July  26,  1867. 

Although  his  law-practice  was  improving  and 
the  prospect  was  brighter  than  for  many  young 
lawyers,  yet  it  was  a  profession  which  never  in 
terested  him  sufficiently  to  gain  his  undivided 

20 


A  MEMOIR 

attention.  He  yielded  to  his  desire  for  travel 
and  a  larger  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  in  the 
summer  of  1867  obtained  an  appointment  as 
Consul  at  Moscow.  He  sailed  early  in  Septem 
ber,  and,  landing  at  Queenstown,  went  on  slowly, 
seeing  as  much  as  possible  by  the  way.  He  made 
the  acquaintance  of  M.  Taine  and  of  Sainte- 
Beuve  in  Paris  and  of  Turguenief  at  Baden, 
The  latter  gave  him  letters  to  friends  in  Moscow, 
among  others  one  to  Count  Leo  Tolstoy.  After 
a  short  stop  in  St.  Petersburg  he  went  on  to 
Moscow.  There  he  found  himself  at  the  same 
time  intensely  interested  and  intensely  lonely. 
He  longed  for  letters  and  counted  the  days  be 
tween  mails.  Meantime  he  drew  for  his  mother 
a  plan  of  his  lodgings,  with  the  location  of  chairs 
and  tables,  and  told  her  about  the  Russian  houses 
with  plants  growing  in  all  the  rooms,  the  poorer 
houses  with  artificial  flowers  stuck  in  the  sand 
between  the  double  windows.  He  described  the 
appearance  of  the  town  with  its  green  roofs  and 
gilt  domes,  and  the  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
six  churches,'  each  with  a  dozen  bells,  ringing 
nearly  all  the  time,  "  fast,  too,  as  if  for  a  fire." 
To  other  friends  he  wrote  detailed  and  enthusi 
astic  descriptions  of  scenery,  architecture,  cus 
toms,  and  people.  He  lost  no  time  in  making 

21 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

acquaintances.  All  kinds  of  people  interested 
and  amused  him,  and  here,  as  later  in  St.  Peters 
burg,  he  was  the  enfant  gate  of  every  house  which 
he  frequented,  from  that  of  Prince  Odoiefsky, 
the  last  survivor  of  the  noblest  family  in  Russia, 
to  the  rich  merchants  of  various  nationalities, 
and  the  Russianised  German  baroness  who  eked 
out  her  husband's  income  by  keeping  a  shop  for 
fancy-goods. 

He  wrote  to  his  friend  Russell  Sturgis,  Octo 
ber  29,  1867: 

"  Of  course  I  have  not  yet  made  many  acquaint 
ances  here.  I  dined  last  night  with  the  Prince 
Vladimir  Odoiefsky,  en  famillc,  his  wife  and 
one  young  man  whose  name  I  can't  recall.  The 
Prince  is  an  agreeable  old  man  of  about  sixty- 
five,  a  bibliophile,  with  a  splendid  library  which 
overflows  every  room  except  one  salon,  where 
plants  in  profusion  take  the  place  of  books.  .  .  . 
They  live  very  simply  and  without  affectation. 
To  be  sure  there  were  three  man-servants,  but 
those  here  are  a  matter  of  course.  The  house  is 
not  furnished  richly,  and  there  was  no  attempt 
at  show.  The  dinner  was  very  good,  though 
with  only  one  dish  peculiarly  Russian.  It  is  a 
kind  of  partridge,  and  with  it  are  served  salted — 
not  pickled — cucumbers.  They  are  very  good 
— large,  with  sometimes  a  dash  of  caraway  in 
them.  We  had  any  number  of  wines — all  set  on 

22 


A  MEMOIR 

at  once,  and  you  take  which  you  please.  I  was 
made  to  taste  a  Russian  sherry  and  claret,  one 
from  the  Crimea,  the  other  from  the  Caucasus, 
and  both  very  good — the  sherry  was  from  vines 
imported  from  Spain — also  some  Russian  cordials. 
Before  dinner  we  had  also  the  sakuska,1  salt-fish, 
bread,  and  brandy.  After  dinner  it  is  the  custom 
here  for  each  guest  to  shake  hands  with  and 
thank  the  hostess  and  host.  After  coffee  and 
cigarettes  we  had  a  general  conversation  on 
books  and  other  matters.  The  Prince  is  also  a 
musician.  He  has  an  organ,  two  or  three 
pianos  and  other  instruments.  Nothing  would 
do  but  I  must  try  a  duet  with  him;  so  we  played 
half  a  dozen,  apparently  to  his  satisfaction,  for 
he  complimented  me  a  good  deal,  and  then 
showed  me,  as  a  special  favour,  a  piano  which  he 
had  had  made  on  mathematical  principles.  It  is 
the  only  one  in  the  world  and  is  beautiful,  as 
well  as  curious.  In  the  ordinary  piano  the 
sharps  and  flats,  being  separated  by  only  a  very 
small  interval,  are  run  together  and  then  all  the 
keys  equally  regulated.  It  would  be  impossible 
for  an  ordinary  man  to  play  on  or  tune  them 
otherwise.  In  this  the  sharps  and  flats  were  dis 
tinct,  there  being  twenty  instead  of  thirteen 
notes  in  the  octave.  The  fourth  is  a  perfect 
concord,  as  on  the  violin.  The  workmanship 
was  exquisite  and  the  effect  splendid.  Alto 
gether  it  was  the  ideal  piano.  After  this  we 

1  Foretaste. 
23 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

had  tea,  in  tumblers,  and  more  talk.  I  pleased 
the  old  lady  by  showing  her  a  new  game  of  soli 
taire,  and  am  invited  to  a  salon  on  Friday  even 
ing,  when  I  am  to  be  introduced  to  the  haute 
societe  of  Moscow.  Some  of  the  princesses  are 
pretty,  but  none  of  them  are  said  to  be  rich." 

After  the  first  really  cold  weather  of  the  Rus 
sian  winter,  he  wrote: 

"  Now  I  will  tell  you  how  it  feels.  Of  course 
you  find  it  difficult  to  keep  the  house  as  warm 
as  usual.  You  wrap  up  and  go  out-doors.  Your 
skin  is  shrivelled  up  and  you  feel  smaller.  I  be 
lieve  if  it  were  not  for  your  bones  you  would 
shrink  up  to  half  the  size.  There  are  not  many 
people  in  the  streets,  and  all  of  them  are  shape 
less  lumps  of  wrappings.  The  sun  shines  very 
brightly  in  a  perfectly  cloudless  sky,  but  the 
breath  of  men  and  horses  makes  a  vapour  that 
immediately  falls  in  minute  snow-crystals.  If 
you  walk  fast  you  can  keep  warm,  but  your  legs 
feel  heavy  and  you  would  like  to  sit  down  on  a 
doorstep  for  awhile,  or  lean  up  against  a  fence. 
If  you  wink,  your  eyelashes  freeze  together. 
Then  at  night,  the  sky  seems  perfectly  black 
and  the  stars  shine  very  brightly,  but  don't  give 
much  light.  The  vapour  from  the  gas  has  formed 
a  coat  of  ice  on  the  inside  of  the  street-lamps 
and  the  lights  are  mere  faintly  glimmering 

specks." 

24 


A  MEMOIR 

His  esprit  chercheur  carried  him  far  in  his  ob 
servations. 

"  The  common  people  dress  very  lightly — thin 
trousers  and  shirt,  without  underclothing,  and 
reserve  their  warm  furs  and  skins  for  the  street. 
In  the  Traktirs,  or  restaurants,  the  waiters  have 
long,  loose  white  linen  trousers,  with  a  white 
linen  or  coloured  silk  shirt,  with  a  sash  round  it 
— nothing  else.  I  pinched  one  of  them  to  see." 

In  the  spring  of  1868  he  made  his  first  jour 
ney  to  Orenburg,  travelling  in  company  with  a 
Russian  merchant.  They  went  down  the  Volga 
by  steamboat  and  thence  by  tarantass;  frater 
nising  with  young  Englishmen  in  the  telegraphic 
service,  with  Russian  families,  with  travellers  of 
all  nationalities;  landing  to  pay  visits  with  his 
merchant  friend,  and  calling  in  addition  on  "  the 
wife  of  one  of  the  principal  Ural  Cossacks," 
where  he  found  "  a  rather  pretty  daughter  play 
ing  on  a  grand  piano  and  not  a  bit  like  a  Cos 
sack,"  and  "  a  very  nice  little  girl  named  Tanya;" 
and  alighting  from  the  tarantass  to  pick  wild 
lilies  of  the  valley  and  other  flowers.  At  Oren 
burg  he  saw  much  that  was  interesting  and 
heard  much  talk  of  the  hostilities  in  Asia  and 
the  depression  of  trade  and  uncertainties  of  car 
avans;  attended  prayers  at  the  Bukharan  mosque 

25 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

and  made  numerous  acquaintances,  including  an 
American,  who  by  some  turn  of  fortune  was  liv 
ing  in  Orenburg  as  Capellmeister.  He  dined 
with  the  Cover  nor- General  and  also  with  a  Buk- 
haran  who  had  the  dinner  served  on  "  a  little 
pink  tablecloth  laid  on  the  Bukharan  carpets 
which  covered  the  floor."  The  pilof,  for  which 
each  guest  had  a  spoon,  a  concession  to  their 
foreign  prejudices,  but  which  all  ate  out  of  the 
same  dish,  "  was  truly  delicious."  He  says  in 
his  diary  that  the  Bukharans  "  seem  to  have 
supposed  that  America  was  a  mere  expression 
used  to  lower  the  price  of  their  cotton,  and  are 
quite  curious  about  me,  thinking  I  am  come  to 
interfere  with  their  trade." 

He  crossed  the  Ural,  and  as  he  drove  over 
the  steppe  had  the  pleasure  of  feeling  himself 
in  Asia;  took  refuge  from  a  storm  in  a  Kirghiz 
kibitka  and  drank  kumys  for  the  first  time  in  his 
life;  and  finally  ended  his  visit  by  assisting  at 
the  festivities  in  honour  of  the  Grand  Duke  Vla 
dimir — a  banquet  and  a  camel-race — and  got 
back  to  Moscow  four  weeks  from  the  time  he 
started. 

Early  in  October  of  the  same  year  he  visited 
Count  Leo  Tolstoy  at  his  estate  of  Yasnaya 
Polyana.  The  letters  which  he  wrote  from 

26 


A  MEMOIR 

there   were   incorporated   in   the   sketch   of   Tol 
stoy,  written  twenty  years  later. 

All  this  time  he  was  working  indefatigably, 
studying  Russian  and  French,  reading  exten 
sively,  and  making  himself  familiar  not  only 
with  the  work  of  his  office,  but  with  Russian 
affairs.  The  character  of  his  work  is  indicated 
in  the  following  letter  of  good  advice  written 
about  this  time: 

"  MY  DEAR  EVA  :  .  .  .  I  think  you  make 
a  mistake  in  going  to  so  many  lectures.  One 
can't  have  time  to  know  everything.  Take  the 
subjects  you  are  most  interested  in  and  let  the 
others  alone.  You  are  like  me,  you  can  be 
come  easily  interested  in  almost  anything,  and 
we  are  both  tempted  continually  to  study  up 
some  new  thing.  I  try  quite  rigidly  to  confine 
myself  to  four  connected  subjects,  but  am  con 
tinually  running  over.  Mine  are  history,  liter 
ature,  language,  and  mythology — especially  in 
the  Teutonic  and  Slavonic  peoples.  Science  I 
am  extremely  fond  of  and  am  sometimes  sorry 
I  did  not  devote  myself  to  it,  but  it  is  now  too 
late,  and  I  must  content  myself  with  an  occa 
sional  glance.  Diplomacy  and  statistics — my 
present  profession — I  consider  a  part  of  history. 
Among  other  wild  projects  I  seriously  think  of 
writing  a  '  Manual  of  the  Diplomatic  History  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century.'  " 

27 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

With  the  change  of  administration  in  1869, 
came  the  usual  turning  out  of  office.  By  this 
time  Mr.  Schuyler  was  used  to  his  official  work 
and  had  grown  fond  of  it,  and  was  making  him 
self  an  authority  on  Russian  affairs.  His  reports 
and  despatches  abounded  in  information.  More 
over  he  was  now  making  plans  for  literary  work 
which  would  require  a  longer  stay  in  Russia. 
He  hoped  that  his  proved  fitness  for  his  post 
would  cause  him  to  be  retained,  especially  as  it 
had  not  been  generally  considered  a  desirable 
one  at  the  time  of  his  appointment.  For  a  time 
he  heard  nothing,  either  directly  or  indirectly. 
Then  the  London  Times  announced  his  removal 
and  he  awaited  the  event.  Various  newspapers 
contradicted  the  statement  of  the  Times,  and  he 
wrote,  May  I4th: 

"  I  am  delighted  to  find  that  the  news  in  the 
London  Times  of  my  removal  is  so  far  untrue, 
and  that  I  shall  have  a  chance  to  stay  here  a  while 
longer.  What  especially  pleases  me  is  the  inter 
est  some  of  my  friends  have  taken  in  the  matter. 
Some  unknown  friend  inserted  a  letter  (which  I 
have  heard  of,  but  not  seen)  in  a  London  paper, 
praising  me  and  objecting  to  my  removal;  and 
Mr.  Bancroft,  the  moment  he  heard  the  report, 
wrote  to  Washington  to  have  me  retained  or 
transferred  to  Odessa." 

28 


A  MEMOIR 

Supposing  that  matters  were  settled  for  the 
time,  he  went  for  a  few  days  to  Kief,  and  on  his 
return  found  that  he  had  been  superseded  some 
weeks  before,  and  that  his  pay  had  stopped  at 
the  same  time.  He  says,  in  a  letter  of  June 
1 7th: 

"  If  I  had  known  that  I  was  removed  I  should 
not  have  taken  the  journey  which  I  shall  here 
relate  to  you,  but  supposing  that  the  report  of 
my  removal  was  an  error,  I  went  and  enjoyed 
myself,  without  suspicion  of  the  evil  fate  that 
was  in  store  for  me.  On  the  whole,  I  can't  say 
I  am  sorry  I  went,  though  I  should  like  to  have 
again  the  money  it  cost." 

At  Kief  he  saw,  as  usual,  all  that  there  was 
to  see,  and  made  many  acquaintances  (only  one 
of  whom  he  found  fault  with,  a  lady  who  was 
"  fearfully  talkative  in  several  languages "),  and 
happened,  as  usual,  on  a  peasant  wedding,  where 
he  "  drank  cherry  vodka,  danced  the  Kazatchek, 
and  learned  the  Russian  game  of  jackstraws  of 
a  little  girl." 

On  his  return  to  Moscow,  wishing  to  remain 
in  Russia,  he  expressed  his  willingness  to  accept 
the  consulship  at  Revel,  although  it  was  not  a 
desirable  post;  and  in  the  meantime  occupied 
himself  in  writing  for  various  periodicals. 

29 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"August  $?,  1869,  Moscow. 

"  MY  DEAR  EVA  :  Your  letter  from  Cherry 
Valley  came  yesterday,  to  my  great  delight,  as 
it  was  a  very  long  time  since  I  had  heard  from 
you.  I  have  myself  not  written  to  anybody  for 
the  last  two  or  three  weeks,  because  I  am  often 
in  a  disagreeable  state  of  mind,  and  because  as 
I  am  trying  to  write  for  my  living,  I  am  so  busy 
writing  and  reading  every  day  that  my  head  is 
about  run  out  of  ideas.  This  week  I  have  writ 
ten  one  letter  to  the  World  and  three  to  the 
Evening  Post,  besides  being  busy  on  two  articles 
and  reading  for  another.  I  cannot  do  one  thing 
at  a  time.  It  is  not  my  nature.  If  I  could 
only  write  ten  such  pages  every  day  I  should  be 
quite  content,  but  there  are  sure  to  be  three  days 
out  of  the  week  when  I  am  either  indisposed  to 
write  or  am  interrupted.  For  instance,  yester 
day  I  had  promised  to  introduce  the  new  consul 
to  the  dignitaries  and  other  consuls,  and  that 
destroyed  the  whole  day.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  had  a  great  misfortune;  my  little  white 
and  brown  cat  is  dead — she  was  Belenka.  I 
have  two  others,  gray  ones — Sasha  and  Masha. 
I  had  another  Masha,  a  beautiful  tiger-striped 
cat,  that  I  had  since  it  was  a  little  kitten,  but 
somebody  stole  it,  so  I  got  a  second  one  as 
nearly  like  it  as  I  could,  but  it  is  much  more 
stupid.  You  see  in  my  old  age  I  have  taken  up 
again  with  the  pets  of  my  infancy.  Sasha  is 

30 


A  MEMOIR 

very  wise  and  sits  on  my  shoulder,  her  favourite 
place,  as  I  write  this.     .          ." 


In  the  autumn  he  was  appointed  Consul  at 
Revel;  but  in  the  meantime  he  had  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Mr.  Curtin,  the  new  Minister 
to  Russia,  who  offered  him  the  position  of  Secre 
tary  of  Legation,  left  vacant  by  the  resignation 
of  Mr.  Coffey,  and  he  resigned  the  consulship. 

Life  in  St.  Petersburg  was  a  great  change 
from  the  simpler  ways  of  Moscow.  Here  he 
first  tasted  the  pleasures  and  excitements  of  di 
plomacy,  at  that  time  perhaps  nowhere  more  in 
teresting  than  in  Russia,  whose  progress  in 
Asia  was  arousing  a  jealous  attention,  while  her 
form  of  government  inevitably  led  to  the  impres 
sion  that  there  were  secrets  in  the  air,  and  stim 
ulated  diplomatic  acuteness.  To  this  new  sphere 
of  action  Mr.  Schuyler  brought  special  qualifi 
cations;  for  to  an  inquiring  mind  and  marvellous 
quickness  of  observation  he  added  winning  man 
ners  and  a  knowledge  of  the  Russian  language. 
As  a  result  he  soon  came  to  be  looked  upon  as 
perhaps  the  best  informed  man  in  diplomatic  cir 
cles.  The  extent  and  minuteness  of  his  knowl 
edge  were  only  rivalled  by  its  accuracy,  and  what 
ever  news  he  chose  to  impart  could  be  relied  upon. 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 
In  January,  1870,  he  wrote: 

"  Most  of  my  reading  just  now  is  very  solid 
and  practical,  on  Russian  statistics  and  other 
subjects  almost  exclusively.  I  have  to  write 
here  a  great  many  letters  which  demand  a  thor 
ough  knowledge  of  Russian  subjects,  and  though 
I  suppose  I  know  more  about  them  than  any  dip 
lomat  here,  except  Michell,  the  English  Secre 
tary,  I  have  to  do  a  good  deal  of  cramming.  I 
have  just  finished  a  long  report  on  Russian  man 
ufactures,  with  the  prospect  ahead  of  another  on 
grain  production  and  traffic.  Then,  too,  I  wrote 
not  long  ago  a  paper  on  the  Treatment  of  the 
Jews  in  Russia  for  Mr.  Curtin." 

Curtin,  the  "  War  Governor  "  of  Pennsylvania, 
had  been  an  important  figure  at  a  time  and  in 
a  place  which  had  given  scope  for  his  qualities. 
He  had  gained  a  great  reputation  and  deserved 
well  of  his  country.  To  fill  the  mission  in  Rus 
sia  was  not  an  easy  matter  for  a  man  who  knew 
no  language  but  his  own.  Naturally  he  had  to 
depend  much  on  his  Secretary  of  Legation,  and 
his  frequent  absences  on  leave  left  the  latter  in 
charge  of  the  Legation  during  comparatively 
long  periods.  A  situation  of  that  sort  is  exceed 
ingly  difficult  both  for  the  Minister  and  for  the 
Secretary. 

32 


A  MEMOIR 

One  would  think  that  with  the  business  of 
the  Legation,  a  keen  interest  in  diplomatic  and 
political  affairs,  and  a  habit  of  reading  and  writ 
ing,  a  man's  time  would  be  well  filled.  But 
this  was  only  half  of  the  story.  At  this  period 
of  his  life  the  taste  for  amusement  was  equally 
strong.  Practically  all  doors  were  open  to  him. 
Society  was  ready  not  only  to  receive  him,  but 
to  make  much  of  him,  and  he  was  on  terms  of 
intimacy  in  a  very  great  variety  of  houses.  Then 
there  were  the  great  spectacular  festivities  which 
formed  part  of  the  diplomatic  life,  and  of  which 
the  letter  quoted  below  gives  a  fair  picture; 
there  were  the  several  intimate  circles  of  young 
men,  each  in  sympathy  with  a  different  side  of 
a  many-sided  nature;  and  there  were  all  the 
usual  amusements  of  a  city — a  brilliant,  extrava 
gant,  cosmopolitan  city,  where  the  pace  was 
rapid.  And  to  this  menu  he  brought  an  appe 
tite  rendered  keener  by  an  extraordinary  union 
of  intellectual  with  physical  ardour. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this,  and  although  Court 
festivities  soon  became  a  twice-told  tale,  he 
found  time  to  write  to  the  sister  left  behind  in 
the  quiet  of  a  country  town,  minute  descriptions 
of  what  he  knew  would  interest  her. 
VOL.  I.— 3  33 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"ST.  PETERSBURG,  January  A,  1870. 
"  MY  DEAR  EVA  :  .  .  .  Last  week  we  had  a 
great  ceremony  here  at  the  Palace.  The  Grand 
Duke  Alexis  arrived  at  majority  and  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance.  The  Diplomatic  people  were 
all  invited  and  all  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  of 
the  Court.  The  ladies  were  all  in  Russian  cos 
tume  and  the  men  in  uniform.  Mr.  Curtin  hap 
pened  to  be  ill  and  General  Franklin  was  of 
course  in  uniform,  so  that  I  was  the  only  one 
in  the  immense  assemblage  in  black  dress.  Of 
course  I  felt  very  awkward.  What  a  ridiculous, 
foolish  law  that  is,  to  make  us  go  in  the  costume 
of  a  waiter.  Well,  to  go  back — we  arrived  at 
one  o'clock  and  were  conducted  through  any 
quantity  of  salons  hung  with  pictures  and  lined 
with  detachments  of  all  the  various  regiments  of 
the  guard,  in  beautiful  uniforms,  into  the  chapel. 
There  we  were  placed  on  one  side  and  the  ladies 
on  the  other.  Next  to  us  were  the  Ministers 
and  the  Council  of  the  Empire.  Finally  there 
came  in  a  procession  of  officials  who  brought  in 
the  orb,  the  sceptre,  containing  the  celebrated 
Orloff  diamond,  and  the  crown.  After  that  the 
Metropolitan  and  other  archbishops  went  towards 
the  door  of  the  chapel  to  meet  the  Imperial  fam 
ily.  First  came  the  Emperor  and  Empress,  who 
kissed  the  cross  and  were  blessed,  then  the  Tse- 
sarevitch  and  Dagmar,  looking  very  pretty  in  her 
Russian  dress,  and  then  all  the  other  members  of 

34 


A  MEMOIR 

the  Imperial  family,  and  then  the  rest  of  the  Court. 
When  they  had  taken  their  places  there  was  a 
short  religious  service  with  very  fine  music,  then 
Alexis  read  aloud  the  oath  in  a  loud,  strong,  fine 
voice,  signed  it  and  handed  it  to  Gortchakoff. 
After  that  there  was  a  Te  Deum  sung.  The  choir 
was  magnificent,  but  right  in  the  middle  we  were 
led  out  through  rooms  filled  with  soldiers  to  the 
Throne-room,  where  we  were  put  on  a  platform 
to  the  right  of  the  throne.  There  were  selected 
specimens  from  all  the  regiments,  with  drums  and 
banners,  and  one  banner,  that  of  the  Moscow 
regiment,  standing  directly  over  a  little  reading- 
desk.  The  Imperial  family  again  entered  and 
took  places  on  the  throne  platform.  The  Em 
peror  led  up  Alexis  to  the  desk  and  he  took  the 
military  oath.  Then  he  kissed  his  father,  holding 
his  cheek  up  to  his  for  a  long  time.  Then  after 
a  military  salute,  the  Imperial  family  passed  out, 
and  we  finally  did  the  same  and  went  home.  The 
Empress  stood  during  the  ceremony  on  the  throne 
steps,  so  that  I  saw  her  very  well.  She  was 
dressed  magnificently  in  white  with  lots  of  lace, 
and  a  train  of  dark  red-purple  velvet  covered  with 
gold  embroidery.  Her  coronet  and  necklace 
were  the  finest  diamonds  I  ever  saw.  The  Em 
peror  was  in  uniform.  The  effect  of  the  gorgeous 
uniforms  and  the  ladies'  dresses  was  very  beau 
tiful. 


35 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  Saturday,  January  i$. 

"  We  have  had  still  more  ceremonies.  On  Tues 
day  there  was  the  blessing  of  the  River  Neva  and 
a  grand  parade.  We  were  invited  to  the  palace, 
where  we  had  a  nice  time.  The  ladies  were  in 
morning  costume,  and  it  was  quite  free  and  easy. 
We  had  good  places  and  saw  the  religious  cere 
mony  on  the  ice  very  well,  but  the  walls  and 
windows  were  so  thick  that  it  was  all  dumb  show, 
for  we  could  not  hear  a  sound.  After  that  we 
sat  down  to  a  lunch,  and,  I  must  say,  the  Em 
peror  either  has  a  bad  cook,  or  he  did  not  exert 
himself  much  for  us.  Then  we  were  taken  to 
the  other  side  of  the  palace,  from  which  we  saw 
the  review  of  47,000  troops.  The  Cavalry, 
Lancers,  and  Cossacks  were  splendid,  and  the 
•whole  was  by  far  the  best  parade  I  ever  saw. 
The  Governor  says  the  same,  though  he  saw  the 
great  reviews  at  Paris  of  1867.  It,  however,  lost 
a  little  from  the  bands  being  inaudible. 

"  To-day  we  were  all  presented  to  the  Grand 
Duchess  Marie  Alexandrovna,1  the  only  daughter 
of  the  Emperor.  She  is  only  sixteen  and  this  is 
her  first  appearance  in  the  world.  She  is  to  come 
out  at  a  Grand  Ball  on  Tuesday.  Marie  is  rather 
pretty,  though  her  nose  and  mouth  are  not  good. 
She  was  a  little  embarrassed,  though  on  the  whole 
she  did  very  well,  and  everybody  was  charmed 
with  her.  The  ladies  were  taken  to  her  one  by 
one,  and  then  the  men  of  the  Corps  Diplomatique, 

xThe  Duchess  of  Edinburgh. 

36 


A  MEMOIR 

about  sixty,  were  put  in  circle  and  she  went  the 
rounds,  having  quite  a  conversation  with  each 
one  in  French,  English,  or  German,  as  the  case 
might  be.  She  was  apparently  crammed  up  be 
forehand,  for  she  seemed  to  know  something 
about  each  man's  private  history.  It  was  a  very 
trying  ordeal  for  a  young  girl.  She  looks  fully 
nineteen.  She  was  dressed  in  rose-pink  silk, 
much  flounced,  with  white  trimming,  low-necked, 
with  a  pearl  necklace,  one  pearl  bracelet  and  one 
diamond  one,  and  a  rose  in  her  hair.  I  go  into 
particulars  at  the  risk  of  being  thought  absurd, 
because  I  think  they  will  interest  you,  and  I  know 
they  will  Aunt  R.  Tell  me  whether  I  sent  you 
her  photograph  and  if  not  I  will  do  so. 

"  For  more  serious  occupation  I  went  on 
Wednesday  to  an  '  Economic  Society '  dinner, 
where  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  many  economists 
and  scientists,  and  heard  a  long  discussion  in  Rus 
sian  on  the  Suez  Canal.  I  paid  a  flying  visit  to 
Pakoff  on  Thursday,  but  as  I  was  only  there  a  few 
hours,  I  have  nothing  to  tell  about  it.  I  went  down 
with  General  Franklin,  who  has  at  last  gone, 
much  to  my  regret.  He  is  one  of  the  few  men 
with  whom  I  have  been  in  intimate  relations  for  a 
month,  and  with  whom,  with  all  my  criticalness, 
I  can  discover  no  possible  fault. 

"  I  think  the  length  of  this  letter  will  excuse  the 
length  of  time  that  has  elapsed  since  my  last. 
Write  to  me  all  that  is  going  on.  With  much 
love  to  all,  Yours,  as  ever,  EUGENE." 

37 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

In  all  his  letters  the  dominant  note  is  friendli 
ness.  It  is  astonishing  how  well  he  liked  people; 
and  in  the  intimate  letters  of  twenty-five  years  one 
could  count  on  one's  fingers  the  persons  whom  he 
mentioned  with  dislike.  Even  his  dislikes  were  not 
bitter,  and  he  could  appreciate  the  good  qualities 
of  an  enemy;  though  in  a  moment  of  irritation  he 
might  seem  unable  to  tolerate  the  foibles  of  a  friend. 

In  October,  1870,  he  visited  Finland,  a  coun 
try  which  had  interested  him  ever  since  his  edi 
torial  work  on  the  translation  of  the  "  Kalevala." 
He  was  enchanted  with  the  scenery,  with  his 
night's  stay  at  a  farm  called  Liuxiala,  which  was 
"  towards  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century  the 
abode  of  Queen  Catherine  of  Sweden,  after  her 
husband,  Erik  XIV.,  was  dethroned."  From 
Helsingfors  he  wrote: 

'  The  people  here  have  really  been  too  good  to 
me.  They  have  looked  on  me  as  in  some  way 
representing  the  Kalevala  in  America  and  have 
shown  me  no  end  of  attention.  I  have  met 
nearly  all  the  professors  at  the  University,  and 
they  have  taken  great  pains  to  explain  to  me  all 
I  wanted  to  know — and  one  even  volunteered  to 
give  me  some  Finnish  lessons.  Several  of  them 
have  presented  me  copies  of  their  books  in  Fin 
nish  and  Swedish,  and  I  have  quite  a  collection 
illustrating  the  Finnish  literature." 

38 


A  MEMOIR 

He  was  much  feted,  and  as  he  wrote,  "  made 
many  pleasant  acquaintances."  With  some  of 
them  he  corresponded  at  intervals  for  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1871  he  obtained  a  leave  of  ab 
sence  and  returned  to  America,  where  he  spent  the 
summer.  A  trip  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  fulfilled 
the  double  object  of  increasing  his  knowledge  of  his 
own  country  and  renewing  his  acquaintance  with 
the  younger  brother  whom  he  had  left  as  a  cadet  at 
West  Point,1  and  whom  he  characterises  in  a  letter 
written  during  this  journey  as  "  the  nicest  fellow 
I  ever  met." 

He  returned  to  Russia  in  the  autumn,  but  the 
pleasures  of  St.  Petersburg  had  begun  to  pall, 
and  in  March,  1872,  he  wrote  to  a  friend: 

"  I  don't  think  St.  Petersburg  is  a  place  to  grow 
in,  though  I  have  grown  a  great  deal  in  spite  of 
it.  There  are  many  cultivated  people  scattered 
about.  The  Court  circle  numbers  some.  .  .  . 
But  you  can't  find  any  set  with  that  general  love 
of  art  and  literature  that  you  find  in  New  York, 
with  the  same  cultivation  and  good  manners.  I 
am  continually  thinking  better  of  America.  I 
sometimes  sigh  for  New  York.  Indeed  I  often 
sigh  to  be  away  from  here,  and  it  is  a  resolve  of 
mine  to  get  away  as  soon  as  I  can." 

i  Major  Walter  Schuyler,  United  States  Army,  at  present  Colonel  of  the 
Forty-sixth  Infantry,  serving  in  the  Philippines. 

39 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

But  he  was  destined  to  remain  in  St.  Peters 
burg  for  some  time  longer.  About  this  time  he 
began  to  interest  himself  more  systematically  in 
art  than  he  had  heretofore  done.  In  September, 
1872,  he  wrote: 

"  There  is  one  fault  which  nearly  all  connoisseurs 
have,  and  the  better  they  are,  the  more  they  fall 
into  it.  With  a  good  memory  and  a  trained  eye 
one  can  arrive  at  fixing  almost  unerringly  by 
what  artist  a  picture  is  painted,  in  which  of  his 
manners,  and  what  parts  have  been  retouched 
or  repainted.  That  is  a  very  good  thing.  But  I 
notice  that  most  people  who  can  do  that,  get  to 
looking  at  pictures  very  much  as  a  botanist  does 
at  plants.  If  it  is  a  fine  specimen  they  are  de 
lighted.  They  don't  seem  to  discriminate  enough 
between  pictures,  setting  down  one  artist  as  good 
and  another  as  bad.  Then,  too,  they  are  naturally 
led  by  the  consensus  of  the  critical  and  artistic 
world,  and  admire  Raphael  or  Correggio  or 
Poussin,  or  whom  you  will,  simply  because  they 
have  great  reputations  and  must  be  good  painters. 
That  is  all  a  truism  to  you,  but  I  am  particularly 
struck  with  it  every  time  I  meet  a  good  '  judge 
of  art/  Whatever  I  do  I  don't  want  to  do  that, 
but  hope  to  be  able  to  like  pictures  with  a  reason, 
and  also  to  say  why  others  are  bad,  and  not  to  be 
afraid  to  say  so,  because  Ruskin  or  Reynolds  or 
Eastlake  are  opposed  to  me." 

40 


A  MEMOIR 

From  a  month's  trip  to  Vienna  and  Dresden, 
with  incidental  halts  at  other  places,  he  acquired 
an  amazing  amount  of  artistic  experience.  At 
last  even  he  felt  that  his  brain  was  becoming 
over-stimulated;  especially  when  an  opera  of  Wag 
ner  was  added  to  the  sightseeing  of  the  day.  Of 
"  Lohengrin  "  he  wrote : 

1  "  It  was  wonderful,  but  it  excites  me  too  much. 
I  should  like  to  hear  it  again  to-night  to  form  a 
cooler  judgment.  I  have  never  been  so  worked 
up  by  an  opera  before,  and  listened  to  it  breath 
lessly  from  beginning  to  end.  It  is  the  music 
chiefly.  The  play  is  not  so  well  written  nor  so 
poetical  an  idea  as  the  '  Fliegende  Hollander.' 

"  All  this  excites  me  too  much.  My  imagination 
runs  perfect  riot.  I  go  to  bed  tired  at  eleven  or 
so,  and  the  moment  my  head  touches  the  pillow 
I  have  the  most  curious  complicated  dreams, 
combining  the  times  of  mythology,  the  middle 
ages  and  the  present  day,  which  last  till  morning, 
so  that  I  wake  up  tired." 

On  his  return  to  St.  Petersburg  he  wrote: 

"  So  ends  my  '  Art  Journey,'  as  I  call  it.  I  feel 
as  if  it  were  at  least  six  months  since  I  left  here. 
Then,  too,  I  feel  that  I  have  learned  so  much.  I 
really  look  on  it  as  one  of  those  growing  and 
starting  points  in  a  man's  life,  and  I  shall  be 
much  astonished  if  I  don't  develop  still  more.  .  .  . 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

Now  I  am  going  to  try  to  settle  down  to  hard 
work.  I  have  a  lot  of  things  on  hand  to  do,  and 
I  am  going  to  set  about  doing  them  as  fast  as 
possible." 


Ill 

Mr.  Curtin  resigned  in  the  summer  of  1872, 
and  his  successor,  Mr.  Orr,  did  not  reach  St. 
Petersburg  until  the  following  winter.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  Mr.  Schuyler  obtained  a  leave  of  ab 
sence  and  availed  himself  of  an  opportunity  to 
visit  Central  Asia — a  region  rendered  especially 
interesting  by  the  recent  Russian  conquests. 

"  I  shall  probably  astonish  you  a  good  deal  by 
telling  you  that  I  am  going  to  Central  Asia, 
where  I  shall  be  gone  for  some  months.  It  is 
one  of  those  chances  that  ought  not  to  be  thrown 
away.  I  go  with  the  permission  of  Governor 
Orr.  I  cannot  say  exactly  when  I  shall  come 
back,  if  I  ever  do,  for  as  there  is  a  war  in  that 
region  things  are  rather  unsettled.  Still,  I  ex 
pect  to  keep  far  away  from  any  fighting,  and  do 
not  apprehend  any  difficulties  at  all.  So  do  not 
be  alarmed. 

"  My  route  is  something  like  this :  Moscow, 
Saratof  on  the  Volga,  Orenburg  (where  I  was  in 
1868),  Sea  of  Aral,  Tashkent,  Samarcand,  per 
haps  Kokan,  and  back  by  way  of  Siberia." 

42 


A  MEMOIR 

This  was  the  most  extensive  journey  which  he 
had  yet  undertaken,  and  was  not  by  any  means 
devoid  of  danger.  Inheriting  from  his  mother  a 
physical  timidity  which  made  him  uncomfortable 
when  walking  beside  a  precipice,  or  on  a  lonely 
road  at  night,  a  touch  of  excitement  and  interest, 
and  especially  a  sense  of  responsibility  brought 
the  other  side  of  his  nature  uppermost,  and  he 
could  ride  cheerfully  through  a  crowd  of  un 
friendly  Asiatics,  knowing  that  the  first  act  of 
hostility  might  be  the  signal  for  his  murder;  or 
he  could  sit  and  read  a  novel  (and  remember  what 
he  read)  while  awaiting  the  order  for  the  pas 
sengers  to  leave  a  burning  ship  in  mid-ocean. 
With  a  strong  love  of  luxury  and  without  great 
physical  endurance,  he  submitted  philosophically 
to  any  amount  of  fatigue  and  discomfort  in  pursuit 
of  new  knowledge  and  experience. 

He  left  St.  Petersburg  toward  the  end  of  March, 
1873,  and  from  Saratof  travelled  by  open  taran- 
tass,  arriving  at  Orenburg  with  a  "  lobster  face," 
from  which  the  skin  was  peeling  off.  From 
there  he  went  on,  with  camels  or  horses,  as  the 
case  might  be,  writing  from  Kazala :  '  This 
country  reminds  me  a  good  deal  of  the  plains  of 
Colorado,  but  I  suppose  it  is  still  more  like 

Arizona." 

43 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

MacGahan  was  his  travelling  companion,  but 
at  Fort  Peroffsky  they  separated,  MacGahan 
going  across  the  desert  to  Khiva.  Nothing 
failed  to  interest  him,  and  during  the  long  drives 
across  the  country  he  noted,  with  the  trained  eye 
of  a  botanist  and  the  enthusiasm  of  a  lover  of 
nature,  the  varying  vegetation,  both  wild  and 
cultivated — thickets  of  saxaul;  tulips  and  pop 
pies,  and  "  a  blue  flower  something  like  a  hya 
cinth;"  the  fields  of  barley  and  millet;  and  the 
little  irrigating  canals,  "  without  which  one  can 
do  nothing."  He  reached  Tashkent  on  May  3d, 
driving  "  through  a  perfect  wilderness  of  gardens." 

"  As  I  sat  on  the  doorstep  that  evening,  I  could 
not  help  thinking  that  I  had  fallen  on  some  vil 
lage  in  Central  New  York.  The  houses,  to  be 
sure,  are  differently  built,  but  then  in  the  moon 
light  one  does  not  notice  that.  But  the  aspect 
of  the  straight  streets  with  the  gardens  and  trees, 
the  noise  of  the  water,  etc.,  all  were  like  Ithaca 
or  Geneva.  New  or  Russian  Tashkent  is  quite 
distinct  from  the  old  city,  and  has  all  been  built 
in  seven  years.  There  are  about  10,000  Russians 
here,  including  the  army;  and  shops,  a  church, 
and  a  beautiful  garden  attached  to  the  house  of 
the  Governor-General,  where  there  is  music 
three  times  a  week.  The  Sart,  or  native  town, 
is  very  different.  The  streets  are  narrow  and 

44 


A  MEMOIR 

crooked,  with  no  windows  on  them,  the  houses 
all  being  put  back  behind  the  gardens  and  en 
closed  with  high  walls,  so  as  to  hide  the  women. 
You  see  them  occasionally  in  the  street  in  blue 
dresses  and  a  black  horse-hair  veil,  which  effectu 
ally  hides  their  faces.  The  men  are  all  in  long, 
gay-coloured  dressing-gowns  of  cotton  or  silk. 
Some  wear  white  or  blue  turbans,  but  the  most 
of  them  only  little  embroidered  caps  on  their 
shaven  skulls.  I  have  only  once  been  to  the 
bazaar,  so  I  will  not  say  anything  about  it  till  I 
have  seen  it  more  thoroughly.  In  the  Sart  city 
there  must  be  over  300,000  people. 

"  I  have  made  a  number  of  acquaintances  both 
among  the  Russians  and  the  natives.  Last  even 
ing,  in  company  with  some  others,  I  walked 
through  the  town,  through  the  pretty  garden  of 
a  mosque,  and  finally  called  on  Sharif-Khodja 
Kazi,  a  judge  (cadi,  they  call  them  in  Turkey), 
and  one  of  the  chief  mollahs,  or  learned  men, 
the  director  of  a  college,  or  medresse.  There 
were  a  lot  of  people  there,  relatives  and  students. 
We  sat  on  our  legs  on  carpets  spread  on  a  por 
tico,  drank  green  tea,  smoked  a  Bukharan  pipe, 
and  ate  various  sweet  things  and  pistachio  nuts. 
This  spread  they  call  a  destur-khan.  Curiously 
enough  everyone  seems  to  have  heard  of  Amer 
ica,  and  one  man  had  even  seen  a  picture  of 
Lincoln — whom  he  thought  a  very  handsome 
man. 

"  Monday. — Last  night  I  went  to  the  Governor- 

45 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

General's  garden  to  hear  the  music,  and  met 
there  a  lot  of  people,  some  Russians  and  some 
Asiatics.  At  last  we  went  home  to  tea  with  Mr. 
Petroffsky,  who  is  very  kind  to  me  in  showing* 
me  about,  and  I  stayed  there  till  two  o'clock. 
Among  the  people  were  Djura  Beg,  the  former 
Bek  of  Kitab,  another  Bukharan,  an  influential 
Khirgiz,  a  Tartar  doctor  who  has  been  doctor  of 
nearly  all  the  sovereigns  here,  has  seen  several  of 
them  murdered,  and  has  been  nearly  killed  him 
self  several  times.  The  story  he  told  me  was  in 
the  highest  degree  interesting.  .  .  . 

"  Three  of  us  made  a  little  excursion  to  Urgut, 
a  town  in  the  mountains,  twenty-five  miles  to 
the  south.  Everywhere  on  the  road  the  village 
authorities  met  us  with  complimentary  addresses, 
and  trays  of  sweets,  which  are  here  called  destur- 
khans.  At  Urgut  we  had  pavilions  ready  for  us 
in  a  beautiful  grove,  and  had  a  royal  time.  When 
I  left  Samarcand,  horses  were  ready  for  me  every 
where  on  the  road,  and  I  returned  by  way  of  Ura 
Tube  and  Khodjent.  Everywhere  the  same  des- 
tur-khans,  everywhere  rooms  were  prepared  for 
me,  and  I  travelled  as  the  Emir  himself." 

Nevertheless  he  found  the  road  barred  before 
him  in  various  directions,  and  in  Kokan  was 
"  reviled  by  the  inhabitants,"  although  as  a  rule 
the  opposition  to  his  journey  was  masked  under 
many  civilities. 


A  MEMOIR 

"  At  every  place  I  have  been  most  magnificently 
received,  in  fact  I  don't  know  what  they  could 
do  more  for  me.  At  every  city  the  principal  men 
of  the  place  in  gorgeous  attire  rode  out  several 
miles  to  meet  us,  and  everywhere  I  was  presented 
with  khalats — a  robe  like  a  dressing-gown — of 
cloth  of  gold,  horses  with  magnificent  caparisons, 
etc.,  had  too  much  even  to  eat,  and  almost  every 
night  dances  and  festivities,  such  as  they  were. 
It  is  the  exact  contrary  of  my  experience  in 
Kokan.  But  a  few  minutes  ago  the  Bek,  a  son 
of  the  Emir,  and  the  heir  to  the  throne,  sent  me 
five  khalats  of  various  kinds,  and  a  white  horse — 
this  time  I  believe  a  good  one — with  housings 
of  blue  and  silver  and  a  bridle  set  with  tur 
quoises  and  agates.  I  am  now  the  possessor  of 
four  horses,  but  most  of  them  bad.  Of  course 
I  have  to  give  presents  in  return,  and  with  the 
exception  of  a  few  things  I  shall  keep,  I  shall 
sell  the  most  to  pay  the  expenses." 

"  BUKHARA,  August  i2th. 

"  I  have  now  done  with  my  trip  here  and  shall 
go  back  to  Samarcand  to-morrow.  At  present 
I  am  a  slave-owner,  having  bought  to-day  a 
young  Persian  of  ten  years  old  for  700  tengas, 
or  about  $100.  I  saw  a  charming  boy  on  the 
bazaar  in  the  slave  market  and  felt  very  sorry 
for  him,  as  he  had  only  been  lately  captured, 
and  after  wavering  in  mind  whether  I  could 
afford  it,  finally  bought  him,  and  paid  part  of 

47 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

the  price,  but  before  I  could  secure  him,  he  was 
spirited  off  by  order  of  the  Government  and  I 
lost  him.  So  to  take  to  Samarcand  a  visible 
proof  that  they  sell  slaves  here  (for  they  deny  it 
to  the  Russians),  I  bought  this  little  fellow  at 
private  sale.  I  shall  take  him  to  St.  Petersburg 
and  hand  him  over  to  the  Persian  Minister  to  be 
sent  home. 

u  On  the  road  from  Karshi  here  I  spent  a  night 
in  the  camp  of  the  Emir,  who  was  going  to 
Karshi,  and  was  presented  to  him.  He  received 
me  very  well;  told  me  I  could  travel  where  I 
pleased,  and  gave  me  a  horse  and  four  khalats. 
Here,  at  Bukhara,  I  have  been  lodged  in  a  very 
nice  house,  and  have  had  a  chance  to  see  every 
thing.  I  think  the  Government  has  been  a  good 
deal  disturbed  by  my  inquiries  and  investigations. 
They  have  tried  to  make  my  stay  as  agreeable  as 
possible,  but  on  the  subject  of  the  slave  deceived 
me  fearfully  and  lied  to  me  constantly.  The 
same  thing  took  place  about  going  to  Tchardjui, 
where  I  wanted  to  go.  The  Emir  told  me  I  could 
go,  but  the  people  here  made  all  sorts  of  diffi 
culties  and  finally  told  me  I  could  not  go.  I 
think,  however,  that  I  have  thoroughly  done  the 
city,  and  I  have  rather  enjoyed  the  intrigues." 

A  few  days  later,  as  he  was  riding  through  a 
large  bazaar,  there  were  some  hostile  demonstra 
tions.  One  man  picked  up  a  large  stone,  but 
fortunately  betrayed  himself  by  muttering:  "Just 

48 


A  MEMOIR 

let  me  hit  him  and  he  will  drop  dead  at  once,  and 
there  will  be  one  Kaffir  the  less."  He  was  driven 
off,  picked  up  another  stone,  and  was  finally 
soundly  beaten  by  Mr.  Schuyler's  servants. 

In  the  meantime  Mr.  Orr  had  died  in  St. 
Petersburg,  and  by  the  time  the  news  reached 
Mr.  Schuyler  in  Asia,  Mr.  Jewell  had  been  ap 
pointed  Minister  and  was  on  his  way  to  Russia. 
Mr.  Schuyler  hastened  his  return  and  reached  St. 
Petersburg  about  the  middle  of  November. 

"  I  have  been  here  now  a  week,  but  am  not  yet 
settled  down.  .  .  .  Mr.  Jewell  I  like  very 
much,  and  he  is  certainly  remarkably  kind  and 
considerate.  The  State  Department,  so  far  as  I 
know,  is  still  satisfied  with  me,  and  talks  of  pro 
motion,  though  as  yet  in  indefinite  terms.  .  .  . 

"  I  expect  to  write  a  book  and  hope  to  have  it 
ready  by  spring.  In  that  case  I  shall  probably 
resign  in  case  I  do  not  receive  some  other  place. 
The  Herald  has  offered  me  a  place  in  New  York 
as  editorial  writer,  but  I  think  I  can  do  bet 
ter.  .  .  . 

"  People  here  seem  to  think  I  have  done  a 
great  thing  in  going  to  Central  Asia,  and  more 
especially  in  coming  back  again.  I  don't  know 
exactly  how  I  have  changed,  but  somehow  I 
seem  no  longer  to  be  the  same — even  to  myself. 
Without  being  more  serious — I  feel  myself  so. 
VOL.  I.— 4  49 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

Probably  I  am  not  yet  oriente  to  St.  Petersburg 
life,  but  all  here  but  two  or  three  bore  me  dread 
fully,  and  I  don't  know  what  to  do  with  myself. 
With  people  who  are  interested  in  Central  Asia 
I  can  talk  with  much  more  pleasure.  You  see  it 
is  my  present  hobby  that  I  am  riding  to  death." 

Mr.  Jewell  resigned  in  the  summer  of  1874, 
after  only  a  year  and  a  half  of  St.  Petersburg. 
His  relations  with  Mr.  Schuyler  always  remained 
cordial  and  even  affectionate.  He,  too,  was  a  man 
who  spoke  no  language  but  English,  and  was 
unversed  in  Russian  affairs,  and  thus  had  to  rely 
greatly  on  his  Secretary  of  Legation.  His  letters 
show  him  to  have  been  shrewd,  generous,  humour 
ous,  and  modest,  and  a  very  loyal  friend.  He  saw 
clearly  the  disadvantage  of  sending  representa 
tives  who  were  ignorant  of  the  affairs  of  the 
countries  to  which  they  were  accredited,  and  of 
any  language  but  their  own;  and  he  expressed 
very  earnestly  his  desire  to  have  the  place  suit 
ably  filled  after  his  resignation. 

At  this  time  Mr.  Schuyler  wished  to  resign  his 
position  in  order  to  publish  his  book  on  Central 
Asia;  and  in  spite  of  his  strong  preference  for  a 
diplomatic  career  and  his  unwillingness  to  give 
it  up  unless  it  should  prove  necessary  to  do  so, 
he  was  making  plans  to  adopt  another  profession, 

50 


A  MEMOIR 

in  view  of  the  uncertainties  of  the  American  Dip 
lomatic  Service. 

Meanwhile,  although  anxious  to  publish  his 
book  while  the  subject  was  still  fresh  in  the 
public  mind,  he  felt  obliged  to  remain  at  his  post 
until  the  arrival  of  a  new  Minister,  since  the  Secre 
tary  of  State  had  requested  him  to  do  so,  and  had 
in  fact  refused  to  accept  his  resignation. 

He  had  returned  from  the  journey  to  Central 
Asia  in  1873,  filled  with  information  on  many 
subjects;  and  above  all  enlightened  as  to  the 
methods  of  Russian  officials  in  those  parts.  Since 
the  better  class  of  men  disliked  being  sent  to 
those  outlying  regions,  it  unfortunately  happened 
that  there  where  promotion  was  exceptionally 
rapid,  inferior  men  rose  to  power.  Thus,  even  in 
cases  where  the  policy  of  the  Government  was 
unobjectionable,  untrustworthy  agents  were  left 
to  carry  it  out.  From  this  arose  great  abuses. 
What  with  burdensome  taxation,  broken  promises, 
attempts  to  enforce  a  system  of  government  for 
eign  to  the  ideas  of  the  inhabitants  and  incompre 
hensible  to  them,  and  the  substitution  of  "  admin 
istrative  methods  "  for  law,  whenever  law  seemed 
burdensome  to  the  foreign  rulers,  the  unfortunate 
natives  were  greatly  fretted  and  bewildered. 
When  in  addition  to  this,  the  Russian  officers 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

were  all  anxious  to  obtain  decorations  as  a  reward 
of  valour,  a  premium  was  placed  on  war.  As,  for 
instance,  in  the  celebrated  case  of  General  Kauf- 
mann,  who  wanted  the  Cross  of  St.  George  and 
could  not  obtain  it  except  for  victory  in  battle. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Turkomans  had 
yielded  and  had  been  pardoned,  and  were  keeping 
faith  with  the  Russians.  Under  the  circumstances 
General  Kaufmann  decided  that  it  was  necessary 
to  subdue  "  their  pride  and  their  license."  Ac 
cordingly  he  levied  an  extortionate  tax,  and  then 
went  out  on  the  warpath  without  giving  them 
time  to  raise  the  money  to  pay  it.  The  battle 
which  brought  him  his  Cross  of  St.  George  was 
really  a  massacre;  but  the  distance  from  St.  Peters 
burg  was  great. 

It  was  such  information  as  this  that  Mr. 
Schuyler  brought  back  from  Asia.  At  Mr. 
Jewell's  request,  he  prepared  a  report  for  the 
State  Department,  which  they  both  supposed 
would  be  considered  a  confidential  document. 
The  Department,  however,  did  not  agree  with 
their  view,  and  it  was  published  in  the  Red  Book 
of  December,  1874,  and  made  much  talk.  Many 
people  were  only  too  glad  to  receive  information 
of  Russian  atrocities  from  any  source,  and  all 
the  more  from  a  trustworthy  authority;  and  the 

52 


A  MEMOIR 

newspapers  in  general  took  it  for  granted  that 
the  man  who  had  made  such  revelations  could 
not  possibly  remain  in  Russia.  However,  no 
complaint  was  ever  made  by  the  Russian  Govern 
ment,  and  shortly  afterward  the  Emperor,  always 
open-minded,  rejected  General  Kaufmann's  plan 
for  the  reorganization  of  Central  Asia.  In  his 
diary  Mr.  Schuyler  says: 

"  January  10,  1875. — Four  copies  of  Red  Book 
arrive  writh  my  report  on  Central  Asia,  which 
rather  startles  me.  .  .  .  General  Vlangali1  calls 
on  me — a  charming  man — lend  him  a  copy  of  Red 
Book. 

"January  nth. — Baron  Osten-Sacken2  calls — he 
takes  Red  Book  to  give  me  his  opinion.  .  .  . 

"  January  i$th. — Take  the  Red  Book  to  Strem- 
oukhofT,3  who  receives  my  report  on  Central  Asia 
much  better  than  I  expected.  He  says  no  harm 
done.  Go  to  Petrofsky. 

"  P.  comes  to  me,  says  Osten-Sacken  is  in  ecsta 
sies  over  my  report.  Vlangali  very  much  pleased 
and  wants  to  read  it  to  Grand  Dukes  Alexis  and 
Vladimir.  Stremoukhoff  pleased  and  will  use  it  for 
his  own  purposes.  .  .  ." 

Five  years  later  he  wrote  to  a  friend  who  had 
asked  him  some  questions  on  the  subject. 

1  Russian  minister  to  China  and  later  of  the  department  of  Asiatic  affairs. 

2  At  that  time  one  of  the  Masters  of  Ceremonies  of  the  Court. 

3  Of  the  department  of  Asiatic  affairs 

53 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  I  suppose  it  is  impossible  to  eradicate  a  pop 
ular  error,  but  the  Russian  Government  never 
found  fault  with  me  in  any  way  or  shape,  and 
never  hinted  at  my  recall  either  in  St.  Peters 
burg  or  Washington.  On  the  contrary  when 
General  Kaufmann  stated  his  grief *  at  my  criti 
cisms  of  his  doings  in  Central  Asia,  he  replied 
that  I  was  in  my  right  and  refused  to  take  notice 
of  his  complaints.  It  arose  from  a  report  which 
I  wrote  on  Central  Asia  being  published  by  the 
State  Department — to  my  great  astonishment.  I 
remained  after  that  as  Charge  d' Affaires  for  more 
than  a  year.  The  report  was  written  in  March, 
1874,  was  published  in  December,  1874,  and  I 
left  Russia  for  Constantinople  in  February,  1876. 

"  My  book  on  Turkistan  was  not  published  until 
October,  1876,  after  I  had  left  Russia.  Naturally 
after  the  publication  of  my  report  and  the  subse 
quent  newspaper  war,  I  was  obliged  to  print  the 
main  facts  more  in  extcnso  in  my  book,  lest  I 
should  seem  to  retract.  I  did  so  on  the  advice 
of  several  highly  placed  Russians,  two  being 
Under  Secretaries  of  the  Foreign  Office,  two 
members  of  the  Council  of  State,  and  one,  Mr. 
(now  Count)  Valnief,  then  Minister  and  now 
President  of  the  Council  of  Ministers." 

Mr.  Boker  accepted  the  Russian  mission  early 
in  the  winter  of  1874-75,  but  did  not  arrive  at 
his  post  until  the  following  summer.  In  the 

1  He  sometimes  uses  "  grief  "  in  the  French  sense. 

54 


A  MEMOIR 

meantime  Mr.  Schuyler's  friends  in  Washington 
had  endeavoured  to  keep  him  in  the  service  by 
obtaining  his  transfer  to  another  post.  Mr. 
Jewell,  who  was  then  in  the  Cabinet,  wrote  to 
him: 

"  I  have  been  trying  to  get  Constantinople  for 
you.  .  .  .  The  Secretary  of  State  has  taken  it 
up  quite  vigorously,  and  the  other  day  asked  the 
President  to  give  it  to  you,  giving  two  very  good 
reasons — that  he  thought  the  Eastern  Question 
was  assuming  such  a  peculiar  shape  now  that  we 
should  have  a  Minister  there  now  who  under 
stands  the  language  and  Eastern  politics,  and 
saying  that  you  filled  the  bill  better  than  any 
man  on  the  list  of  his  acquaintances.  The  Presi 
dent  replied  that  the  pressure  on  him  for  that 
place  had  been  very  great,  people  claiming  that 
those  who  stayed  at  home  and  fought  in  the  war 
were  more  entitled  to  these  high  offices  than 
those  who  had  already  filled  nice  positions  abroad 
for  many  years.  Mr.  Fish  reminded  him  that 
your  position  had  not  been  a  very  nice  one, 
though  you  had  filled  it  well;  to  which  the  Presi 
dent  replied  that  from  all  accounts  he  had  no 
doubt  of  your  ability  and  fitness  for  any  Mission, 
as  he  had  heard  you  very  favourably  spoken  of. 
In  the  course  of  the  conversation  it  was  remarked 
by  somebody,  I  cannot  tell  who,  that  New  York 
had  three  Ministers  already,  and  that  it  did  not 
help  us  politically  to  give  it  to  you,  but  rather 

55 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

the  reverse;  and  that  we  ought  to  give  it  to  some 
able  and  competent  Republican  from  a  State  like 
Iowa  perhaps,  which  had  no  representation 
abroad." 

A  later  letter  says: 

"  Boker  has  written  that  he  desires  you  to  stay 
and  coach  him  at  least  until  he  is  started." 


IV 

In  January,  1876,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  appointed 
Consul-General  and  Secretary  of  Legation  at 
Constantinople.  It  was  a  relief  to  him  to  turn 
his  back  on  St.  Petersburg,  where,  in  spite  of 
many  friends,  he  had  become  weary  of  a  mode 
of  life  which  interfered  with  serious  work,  and 
which  required  an  inexhaustible  purse.  However, 
he  was  detained  until  the  arrival  of  his  successor. 
He  then  took  leave  of  absence  and  went  to  Lon 
don,  where  he  saw  his  book  through  the  press, 
reaching  Constantinople  about  the  beginning  of 
July.  On  his  way  he  stopped  at  Belgrade,  just 
at  the  time  when  Serbia  had  decided  to  make  com 
mon  cause  with  her  neighbours,  Herzegovina, 
Bosnia,  and  Montenegro,  and  declare  war  upon 
Turkey. 

56 


A  MEMOIR 

To  Miss  King. 

"BELGRADE,  June  28,  1876. 

"  .  .  .  The  change  from  the  comfort  and  the 
orderly  life  of  Paris  to  the  turmoil  of  a  little  prin 
cipality  which  is  on  the  eve  of  declaring  war 
upon  a  still  powerful  empire  is  a  great  one.  I  feel 
as  if  I  were  in  a  far  different  world,  where  both 
passions  and  interests  are  new  to  me.  And  yet  I 
have  entered  into  them  with  a  heartiness  which  I 
did  not  suspect  that  I  possessed,  and  the  three  days 
which  I  have  spent  here  have  been  full  of  incident. 

"  I  had  thought  that  the  efforts  of  the  great  pow 
ers  had  been  effectual  in  keeping  Serbia  quiet,  and 
I  was  therefore  the  more  astonished  to  find  that 
everybody  here  considered  war  inevitable  and  was 
daily  expecting  the  issue  of  a  patriotic  proclama 
tion  and  the  departure  of  Prince  Milan  for  the 
Turkish  frontier.  Desirous  of  getting  all  the  in 
formation  I  could  for  future  use  in  Constantinople, 
I  at  once  sank  the  tourist  in  the  politician,  and 
spent  nearly  my  whole  time  in  visiting  the  Diplo 
matic  Corps,  some  of  whom  I  already  knew,  in 
having  interviews  with  the  Ministers  and  with  the 
Prince,  and  in  studying  the  situation. 

"  Last  Sunday — the  night  of  my  arrival — I  went 
to  the  theatre,  which  was  open  for  the  last  time 
before  the  war — as  all  the  actors  are  to  join  the 
ambulances.  The  piece  was  '  The  Janissary,'  full 
of  blood  and  murder,  of  Turkish  insolence  and 
oppression,  and  of  Serbian  valour  and  patience. 

57 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

I  think  only  two  of  the  characters  were  alive  at 
the  end.  The  object  was,  of  course,  to  excite 
the  popular  feeling  against  Turkey,  and  if  the 
shouts  at  the  end  be  an  index,  the  piece  was  well 
chosen.  Had  the  circumstances  not  been  so  tragic, 
the  play  would  have  seemed  to  me  laughable,  but 
I  could  hardly  keep  down  my  emotion  when  I 
thought  of  the  ruin  that  might  come  upon  the 
country,  the  bombardment  of  this  pretty  town, 
and  the  terrible  cruelties  that  would  be  perpe 
trated  in  consequence  of  this  popular  enthusiasm. 

"  Prince  Milan — considering  that  he  left  school 
at  Paris  when  only  sixteen,  in  consequence  of  his 
uncle's  assassination,  and  has  had  a  difficult  and 
busy  life  of  it  ever  since — impressed  me  as  a  very 
remarkable  young  man.  He  is  now  only  twenty- 
two,  handsome  and  well-built,  and  singularly  in 
telligent  and  well-informed.  He  gave  me  much 
information  about  Serbia,  and  in  the  course  of  his 
talk  showed  me  that  he  was  well  acquainted  with 
America,  and  followed  the  march  of  events  there 
better,  I  fear,  than  do  many  Americans  in  Paris. 

"  To-day  all  the  flags  are  flying,  and  Belgrade  is 
as  gay  as  if  for  some  great  victory,  but  it  is  only 
to  welcome  the  proclamation  of  war,  and  to  ex 
press  its  delight  at  the  march  of  the  Prince.  He 
sets  out  early  in  the  morning,  and  in  a  week  we 
shall  hear  of  a  fight.  The  suffering  will  no  doubt 
be  great,  unless,  indeed,  the  Turks  kill  all  the 
wounded,  as  they  had  a  habit  of  doing  in  Herze 
govina.  I  hope  the  ladies  of  the  West  will  con- 

58 


A  MEMOIR 

tribute  something  in  the  way  of  hospital  stores. 
Such  things  will  be  useful  to  both  sides.    .    .    ." 


He  arrived  in  Constantinople  at  the  moment 
when  the  attention  of  the  civilised  world  was 
being  drawn  to  the  condition  of  Bulgaria,  where 
the  Turks  had  made  an  insignificant  insurrection 
the  pretext  for  a  savage  onslaught  on  the  Chris 
tian  population.  The  effort  made  by  the  Great 
Powers  in  1856  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the 
Christian  subjects  of  Turkey,  had  had  no  result. 
The  reforms  and  privileges  granted  by  the  Sultan 
Abdul  Medjid  had  never  been  carried  out.  This 
delay  and  the  consequent  unjust  treatment  of  the 
Christians  by  government  officials,  together  with 
the  almost  daily  acts  of  murder  and  violence  com 
mitted  by  the  Mussulman  population,  had  caused  a 
series  of  feeble  and  abortive  insurrections.  Mean 
time,  however,  a  system  of  national  education  was 
making  progress,  owing  in  great  part  to  the  ex 
ertions  of  the  Americans;  and  in  1871  the  inde 
pendence  of  the  Bulgarian  Church  was  re-estab 
lished.  With  the  gradual  spread  of  education,  a 
greater  national  feeling  grew  up,  and  the  tyranny 
of  the  Mussulman  rulers  became  still  harder  to 
bear.  Still,  no  real  agitation  was  carried  on  in 
the  country  until  1875,  when  the  prevailing  dis- 

59 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

content  assumed  a  more  organized  form,  and 
an  insurrection  was  planned,  with  the  object  of 
making  a  sufficiently  formal  demonstration  to 
compel  the  Porte  to  pay  some  attention  to  the 
demands  of  the  people.  Apparently  there  was 
no  idea  of  making  any  real  opposition  to  the 
Turks.  The  people  were  without  arms  and  un 
accustomed  to  their  use.  After  the  day  for  the 
intended  rising  had  been  fixed,  the  chiefs  resolved 
to  defer  it;  but,  owing  to  the  miscarriage  of  a 
letter,  one  district  remained  ignorant  of  the  post 
ponement.  Accordingly,  about  a  hundred  men  of 
this  region,  armed  with  old  muskets,  sticks,  and 
clubs,  left  their  villages  and  went  towards  the 
Balkans.  They  were  overtaken,  some  of  them 
were  killed  and  the  rest  imprisoned.  Many  more 
arrests  were  made  and  a  number  of  persons 
remained  for  many  months  in  prison  without 
trial. 

After  this,  it  was  resolved  to  see  what  could  be 
done  by  petitioning  the  Sublime  Porte.  Many 
petitions  were  received  at  Constantinople,  but  no 
attention  was  paid  to  them.  On  May  i,  1876, 
another  premature  and  partial  insurrection  took 
place.  It  was  a  very  insignificant  affair,  but  it 
caused  a  panic  among  the  Turks,  who  spread  the 

report    that    the    Russians    were    coming.     Aziz 

60 


A  MEMOIR 

Pasha,  the  mutessarif  of  Philippopolis,  who  had 
been  a  good  governor,  and  was  hated  by  the 
Turks,  for  being,  as  they  thought,  too  favour 
able  to  the  Christians,  found  himself  powerless 
to  prevent  the  arming  of  the  Mussulman  popu 
lation  and  the  formation  of  companies  of  bashi- 
bazouks,  a  term  which  signifies  simply  irregular 
troops,  either  infantry  or  cavalry.  Aziz  Pasha 
was  superseded  in  a  few  days  by  Abdul  Hamid 
Pasha,  a  man  who  did  nothing  to  restrain  the 
barbarities  which  followed.  Meantime  the  regu 
lar  troops,  for  which  Aziz  Pasha  had  telegraphed, 
were  arriving  on  the  scene,  so  that  there  was 
no  excuse  for  arming  the  population.  Scenes 
of  horror  followed.  Near  and  accessible  as  the 
region  was,  it  was  weeks  before  the  outside  world 
began  to  learn  what  was  taking  place,  and  then 
the  reports  came  chiefly  through  American  mis 
sionaries  and  the  professors  and  students  of  Rob 
ert  College.  These  reports  were  discredited,  and 
feeling  ran  high  against  those  who  disseminated 
them.  It  was  then  rumoured  that  the  Porte  in 
tended  to  close  the  American  schools  and  send 
the  missionaries  out  of  the  country.  The  British 
Ambassador,  Sir  Henry  Elliot,  as  is  well  known, 
refused  to  give  any  credence  to  the  stories  and 
did  what  he  could  to  belittle  them.  Dr.  Wash- 

61 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

burn,  the  President  of  Robert  College,  and  Dr. 
Long,  then  a  professor  in  the  college,  but  for 
merly  a  missionary  and  stationed  during  seven 
years  in  Bulgaria,  placed  in  his  hands  much  docu 
mentary  and  other  evidence  of  the  treatment  to 
which  the  Bulgarians  had  been  subjected,  asking 
that  he  would  use  his  influence  in  their  behalf. 
However,  the  Ambassador  did  not  appear  to  think 
the  evidence  of  sufficient  importance  or  authen 
ticity  to  communicate  to  his  Government,  and  re 
turned  the  documents.  The  correspondent  of  the 
London  Daily  News  adopted  a  statement  pre 
pared  by  Dr.  Long,  and  it  appeared  in  that  paper, 
on  June  23,  1876.  This  statement  startled  and 
aroused  the  people  of  England,  but  the  Govern 
ment  was  unwilling  to  take  any  notice  of  it. 
Meantime  a  Turkish  Commissioner  sent  by  the 
Porte  into  Bulgaria  denied  every  accusation  of 
cruelty  on  the  part  of  the  Turks,  and  represented 
them  as  the  victims  of  Christian  ferocity;  and  the 
British  Government  apparently  preferred  to  be 
lieve  the  Turkish  side  of  the  story.  However, 
Lord  Derby  requested  Sir  Henry  Elliot  to  send 
one  of  his  officials  into  Bulgaria  to  inquire  and 
report.  He  sent  Mr.  Walter  Baring,  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  Embassy,  who  started  on  July 
1 9th;  and  at  the  same  time  the  Ambassador  re- 

62 


A  MEMOIR 

ported  to  Lord  Derby  that  the  statements  as  to 
the  atrocities  had  been  taken  chiefly  from  infor 
mation  furnished  by  the  American  missionaries. 
At  this  crisis  the  United  States  Minister  was  glad 
to  avail  himself  of  Mr.  Schuyler's  willingness 
to  be  sent  to  Bulgaria  to  investigate  the  out 
rages. 

To  Miss  King. 

"CONSTANTINOPLE,  July   21,    1876. 

"  .  .  .  I  am  to  start  to-morrow  on  an  errand 
which  is  difficult,  if  not  dangerous.  No  doubt 
you  have  heard  something  already  of  the  fright 
ful  atrocities  perpetrated  in  Bulgaria  by  the 
bashi-bazouks  and  Circassians.  The  English  af 
fect  to  disbelieve  the  reports  and  call  them  exag 
gerated.  The  British  Ambassador  even  defends 
the  acts  of  the  irregular  troops  as  just  reprisals. 
I  have  therefore  been  strongly  urged  to  go  to 
Bulgaria  and  make  an  official  report  to  our  Gov 
ernment  on  the  actual  state  of  things.  My  mis 
sion  is  nominally  to  see  about  the  establishment 
of  vice-consulates.  I  am  armed  with  vizerial  let 
ters,  so  that  the  governors  will  try  to  give  me 
protection,  but  I  fear  that  they  will  put  all  sorts 
of  difficulties  in  my  way,  to  keep  me  from  seeing 
the  calamities  and  distress  of  the  poor  peasants. 
I  mean,  however,  to  give  my  guard  the  slip  and 
penetrate  into  the  country.  I  have  with  me  a 
secretary  and  an  interpreter  who  speaks  Bulgarian 

63 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

as  well  as  Turkish,  an  educated  young  man  from 
Robert  College,  an  American  institution  here.  I 
hope  to  come  back  alive,  though  I  must  admit 
that  I  run  some  risk — and  what  is  more,  I  hope  to 
bring  back  irrefragably  proved  facts  which  will 
show  to  the  civilised  world  what  sort  of  a  Gov 
ernment  is  this  of  England's  protege  in  the  East. 
"  I  went  yesterday  to  the  Commencement  of 
Robert  College  up  at  Roumele  Hissar,  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  places  on  the  Bosphorus.  I  am 
glad  to  say  that  here  is  one  form  of  missionary 
enterprise  with  which  I  can  thoroughly  sympa 
thise.  It  was  founded,  however,  not  entirely  by 
missionaries,  but  by  a  merchant  of  New  York, 
and  the  men  who  teach  there  forswear  any  con 
nection  with  religious  propaganda  and  devote 
themselves  exclusively  to  education.  .  .  ." 

He  started  July  23d,  and  was  joined  later  by 
Prince  Tseretelef,  of  the  Russian  Embassy.  Mr. 
MacGahan,  correspondent  of  the  London  Daily 
Nezvs  and  the  New  York  Herald,  and  Mr. 
Schneider,  of  the  Kblnische  Zeitung,  went  at  the 
same  time.  Mr.  Schuyler  says  in  his  report: 

"  In  going  from  village  to  village,  I  always  had 
an  escort  of  two  zaptiehs,  that  being  the  smallest 
number  which  the  authorities  would  allow  me  to 
take.  They  usually  offered  me  six  or  ten,  and 
would  not  permit  me  to  travel  without  zaptiehs, 
on  the  ground  that  they  were  responsible  for  my 

64 


A  MEMOIR 

safety,  as  well  as  that  politeness  compelled  them 
to  escort  me.  The  zaptiehs  were  useful  for  show 
ing  the  road,  but  they  were  of  slight  value  for 
purposes  of  protection,  as  they  would  probably 
have  run  away  at  the  first  approach  of  danger. 

"  While  paying  all  proper  respect  to  the  authori 
ties,  arid  being  careful  to  fulfil  the  necessary  for 
malities  of  visits,  I  avoided  staying  in  Turkish 
houses,  as  I  would  thus  have  been  prevented  from 
having  free  access  to  the  Bulgarians.  I  also  re 
fused  to  allow  a  guard  to  be  placed  at  the  houses 
where  I  stayed. 

"  I  had  as  an  interpreter  an  educated  young 
Bulgarian,  Mr.  Peter  Dimitroff,  who,  besides  his 
own  language,  understood  English  and  Turkish 
perfectly.  I  knew  sufficient  Bulgarian  to  be  able 
to  follow  the  conversations  and  to  be  able  to  con 
trol  what  he  translated  to  me.  Besides  this,  I 
had  for  the  most  of  my  journey  one  and  some 
times  two  other  persons  who  thoroughly  under 
stood  Turkish  and  Greek — one  an  Armenian,  the 
other  a  Greek.  .  .  .  As  I  set  out  with  no  in 
tentions  either  of  proving  or  disproving  any  asser 
tion  or  statement,  I  shall  relate  merely  what  I  be 
lieve  to  have  occurred." 

As  a  result  of  the  strictest  questioning,  cross- 
examination,  and  comparison  of  statements,  he 
found  that  "  the  insurgent  villages  made  little  or 
no  resistance.  In  many  instances  they  surrendered 
their  arms  upon  the  first  demand." 
VOL.  I.— 5  65 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

But  both  bashi-bazouks  and  regular  troops 
vented  their  hatred  freely  upon  the  whole  Chris 
tian  population.  It  mattered  not  that  the  villagers 
surrendered  at  once.  It  mattered  not  even  that  a 
village  (as  happened  in  many  cases)  had  taken  no 
part  in  the  insurrection,  or  that  (as  in  the  case  of 
Perushtitsa)  it  had  asked  the  authorities  for  pro 
tection  against  the  attacks  of  a  presumably  un 
authorized  Mussulman  mob.  All  were  subjected 
to  the  same  treatment.  Messengers  sent  out  to 
parley  with  the  Turks  were  almost  invariably 
massacred,  as  were  also  the  hostages  retained  by 
them.  One  town,  Panagurishta, 


"  Was  attacked  by  a  force  of  regular  troops,  to 
gether  with  bashi-bazouks,  on  the  nth  of  May. 
Apparently  no  message  to  surrender  was  sent.  Af 
ter  a  slight  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  insur 
gents,  the  town  was  taken.  Many  of  the  inhabi 
tants  fled,  but  about  3,000  were  massacred,  the 
most  of  them  being  women  and  children.  .  .  . 
The  ruffians  attacked  children  of  eight,  and  old 
women  of  eighty,  sparing  neither  age  nor  sex. 
Old  men  had  their  eyes  torn  out  and  their  limbs 
cut  off,  and  were  then  left  to  die,  unless  some 
more  charitably  disposed  man  gave  them  the  final 
thrust.  Pregnant  women  were  ripped  open  and 
the  unborn  babes  carried  triumphantly  on  the 

66 


A  MEMOIR 

points  of  bayonets  and  sabres,  while  little  chil 
dren  were  made  to  bear  the  dripping  heads  of 
their  comrades.  This  scene  of  rapine,  lust,  and 
murder  was  continued  for  three  days,  when  the 
survivors  were  made  to  bury  the  bodies  of  the 
dead.  The  perpetrators  of  these  atrocities  were 
chiefly  regular  troops  commanded  by  Hafiz  Pasha. 
The  Turks  claim  and  the  villagers  admit  the  death 
of  fourteen  Mussulmans,  two  of  whom  were 
women,  who  were  killed  with  arms  in  their  hands 
during  a  conflict  with  a  party  that  refused  to  sur 
render  to  the  insurgents." 

The  case  of  Batak  was  even  worse. 

"  This  village  surrendered  without  firing  a  shot, 
after  a  promise  of  safety  to  the  bashi-bazouks, 
under  the  demand  of  Ahmed-Aga,  of  Burutina, 
a  chief  of  the  rural  police.  Despite  his  promise, 
the  few  arms  once  surrendered,  Ahmed-Aga  or 
dered  the  destruction  of  the  village  and  an  indis 
criminate  slaughter  of  the  inhabitants,  about  a 
hundred  young  girls  being  reserved  to  satisfy  the 
lust  of  the  conqueror  before  they  too  should  be 
killed.  I  saw  their  bones,  some  with  the  flesh 
still  clinging  to  them,  in  the  hollow  on  the  hill 
side,  where  the  dogs  were  gnawing  them.  Not  a 
house  is  now  standing  in  the  midst  of  this  lovely 
valley.  The  saw-mills — for  the  town  had  a  large 
trade  in  timber  and  sawn  boards— which  lined  the 
rapid  little  river,  are  all  burned,  and  of  the  8,000 

67 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

inhabitants  not  2,000  are  known  to  survive.  Fully 
5,000  persons,  a  very  large  proportion  of  them 
women  and  children,  perished  here,  and  their  bones 
whiten  the  ruins  or  their  putrid  bodies  infect  the 
air.  The  site  of  Batak  is  enough  to  verify  all  that 
has  been  said  about  the  acts  of  the  Turks  in  re 
pressing  the  Bulgarian  insurrection.  And  yet  I 
saw  it  three  months  after  the  massacre.  On  every 
side  were  human  bones,  skulls,  ribs,  and  even 
complete  skeletons,  heads  of  girls  still  adorned 
with  braids  of  long  hair,  bones  of  children,  skele 
tons  still  incased  in  clothing.  Here  was  a  house, 
the  floor  of  which  was  white  with  the  ashes  and 
charred  bones  of  thirty  persons  burned  alive  there. 
Here  was  the  spot  where  the  village  notable, 
Trandafil,  was  spitted  on  a  pike  and  then  roasted, 
and  where  he  is  now  buried;  there  was  a  foul  hole 
full  of  decomposing  bodies;  here  a  mill-dam  filled 
with  swollen  corpses;  here  the  school-house,  where 
two  hundred  women  and  children,  who  had  taken 
refuge  there,  were  burned  alive;  and  here  the 
church  and  church-yard,  where  fully  a  thousand 
half-decayed  forms  were  still  to  be  seen,  filling 
the  enclosure  in  a  heap  several  feet  high,  arms, 
feet,  and  heads  protruding  from  the  stones  which 
had  vainly  been  thrown  there  to  hide  them,  and 
poisoning  all  the  air. 

"  Ahmed-Aga,  who  commanded  at  the  massacre, 
has  been  decorated  and  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
yuz-bashi." 


68 


A  MEMOIR 

At  Klissura,  among  other  barbarities,  "  a  newly 
born  child  was  hacked  to  pieces  before  the  eyes 
of  its  mother,  who  was  put  to  death  afterward." 

Tussum  Bey,  who  was  in  command  of  the  band 
which  pillaged  and  destroyed  Klissura  and  sev 
eral  other  villages,  was,  for  this  exploit,  decorated 
with  the  order  of  the  Medjidie. 

At  Petritch  the  children  were  put  to  death 
with  fearful  tortures.  At  Viega  eight  children 
were  killed  who  first  had  their  hands  and  other 
members  cut  off. 

Chefket  Pasha  marched  to  his  native  village  of 
Boyadjik,  and  was  personally  responsible  for  its 
destruction.  This  was  believed  to  be  an  act  of 
personal  vengeance.  As  a  recompense  for  his 
conduct,  he  was  named  Marshal  of  the  Palace. 

Seventy-five  insurgents  came  out  of  a  monastery 
where  they  had  taken  refuge,  and  surrendered 
themselves.  They  were  unarmed  and  carried  a 
white  flag. 

"  They  were  all  massacred  by  order  of  the  Pasha 
commanding,  in  a  most  cruel  way.  Some  were 
cut  to  pieces,  others  had  their  limbs  cut  off  or 
long  strips  of  flesh  torn  from  their  bodies,  and 
others  were  disembowelled.  On  arriving  at  the 
monastery,  the  troops  killed  there  the  mother  of 
the  Prior,  an  old  woman  of  eighty.  .  .  . 

69 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  In  the  districts  to  which  I  paid  particular  at 
tention,  i.e.,  those  of  Philippopolis,  Sliven,  and 
Tirnova  and  the  neighbouring  part  of  the  province 
of  Sophia,  there  were  seventy-nine  villages  wholly 
or  partially  burned,  besides  very  many  pillaged. 
At  least  9,000  houses  were  burned,  and  taking  the 
average  of  eight  to  a  Bulgarian  house,  72,000 
persons  were  left  without  roof  or  shelter.  Ac 
cording  to  the  figures  I  have  given  above,  10,984 
persons  were  killed.  Many  more  were  killed  in 
the  roads,  in  the  fields,  and  in  the  mountains,  of 
whom  there  is  no  record  or  count,  and  I  think, 
therefore,  I  am  not  wrong  in  estimating  the  total 
number  of  killed  at  about  15,000.  Many  more 
died  subsequently  from  disease  and  exposure  and 
in  prison.  .  .  . 

"  I  vainly  tried  to  obtain  from  the  Turkish  of 
ficials  a  list  of  the  outrages  which  they  said  were 
committed  by  the  Bulgarians  at  the  beginning  of 
the  insurrection,  but  I  could  hear  nothing  but 
vague  statements,  which,  on  investigation,  were 
never  proved.  .  .  . 

"  The  highest  number  fixed  for  the  Mussulmans 
killed,  as  stated  to  me  in  different  places  by  Mus 
sulmans,  before  and  during  the  insurrection,  is 
one  hundred  and  seventy-four.  ...  I  was  un 
able  to  assure  myself  that  more  than  two  Mussul 
man  women  have  been  killed  at  Panagurishta,  and 
these  were  killed  in  fight.  Neither  Turkish  women 
nor  Turkish  children  were  killed  in  cold  blood. 
No  Mussulman  women  were  violated.  No  Mus- 

70 


A  MEMOIR 

sulmans  were  tortured.  No  purely  Turkish  vil 
lage,  with  the  exception  of  Urutsi,  was  attacked 
or  burned.  No  Mussulman  house  was  pillaged; 
no  mosque  was  desecrated." 


To  Miss  King. 

"  TATAR-BAZARDJIK,  August  3,  1876. 
"...  I  don't  know  whether  you'll  find  this 
place  on  the  map,  but  it  is  near  the  end  of  the 
railway,  a  little  west  of  Philippopolis,  and  the  centre 
of  the  district  which  suffered  most.  I  returned 
from  one  excursion  yesterday,  and  start  on  an 
other  to-day  to  three  villages  northward,  after 
which  I  shall  return  to  Philippopolis  for  a  day,  and 
shall  then  visit  the  region  of  Yamboli.  In  my 
last  trip  I  saw  a  scene  of  great  horror,  so  fearful 
that  I  shall  not  attempt  description.  I  can  say 
but  little.  It  was  at  the  village  of  Batak,  which  I 
reached  after  a  four  hours'  hard  ride  over  lovely 
mountains.  Here  fully  six  thousand  people  were 
massacred  in  cold  blood  by  Ahmed-Aga,  after  they 
had  given  up  their  arms  and  had  made  no  resist 
ance.  The  whole  town  was  burned,  and  the 
streets  and  ruins  were  thickly  strewn  with  skele 
tons,  bones,  and  skulls,  to  which  in  many  cases 
the  hair  still  adhered.  In  the  church  and  church 
yard  there  were  the  unburied  remains  of  fully  a 
thousand  bodies.  But  I  will  not  go  on.  I  was 
glad  to  escape  from  the  fearful  sight  and  equally 
terrible  stench. 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"This  is  the  worst;  I  expect  to  find  nothing 
again  so  horrible;  but  on  every  side  it  is  nothing 
but  murder,  pillage,  and  conflagration,  attended 
with  the  most  horrible  details.  The  prisons  are 
full  of  victims,  and  innocent  men  have  been  lying 
there  three  months  without  even  the  mockery  of  a 
trial.  Many  have  been  executed,  especially  priests, 
for  the  storm  raged  most  severely  against  priests 
and  school-teachers,  it  being  thought  that  educa 
tion  was  at  the  bottom  of  this  desire  for  liberty. 

"  Everywhere  I  am  besieged  by  crowds  of  women 
who  wish  me  to  intercede  for  their  husbands,  sons, 
and  brothers,  in  prison  or  condemned  to  death. 
I  can  do  but  little,  but  if  I  can  believe  what  I  have 
been  told,  my  visit  has  had  a  good  effect.  Very 
many  men  have  been  released — one  hundred  and 
fifty  in  one  day — and  executions  have  stopped  for 
the  present. 

''  There  is,  of  course,  no  thought  of  punishing 
the  perpetrators  of  the  massacres;  the  severity  of 
the  law  is  reserved  for  the  innocent  villagers  ac 
cused  of  insurrection  against  Turkish  injustice. 

"  The  condition  of  these  poor  peasants  is  now 
terrible.  The  Turks  took  all  their  cattle,  and  re 
fuse  to  restore  them,  and  they  are  therefore  un 
able  to  draw  wood  to  rebuild  their  houses,  or  to 
reap  and  sell  their  crops,  which  are  abundant.  In 
addition  to  this  they  are  afraid  to  go  into  the 
fields  lest  they  be  murdered.  There  is  urgent 
need  of  relief,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  possible  to 
raise  a  fund  for  them  by  public  subscription. 

72 


A  MEMOIR 

"  Were  it  not  for  the  horrors  this  journey  would 
be  a  pleasant  one,  for  the  country  is  lovely.  The 
valley  of  the  Maritza  is  rich  and  well  cultivated, 
and  the  Balkans  form  picturesque  groups  and 
ranges.  Philippopolis  is  finely  situated  on  three 
rocky  hills  rising  out  of  the  plain,  and  Adrianople 
has  some  splendid  architectural  remains,  and 
boasts  a  mosque  finer  than  that  at  Constantinople. 
I  should  like  to  go  farther  up  into  the  mountains 
and  see  some  of  the  monasteries,  to  visit  the  rose- 
gardens  which  produce  the  famous  attar,  and  see 
the  people  where  they  are  happy  and  prosperous. 
As  it  is,  I  am  rather  over-worked,  for  I  have  to 
rise  at  five  and  hear  complaints,  examine  witnesses, 
talk  to  the  Turkish  officials,  or  ride  until  late  in 
the  evening.  And  all  this  in  very  hot  weather. 
I  sometimes  feel  as  if  I  were  gradually  melting 
away.  I  hope  that  the  results  of  my  work  will 
repay  for  the  trouble  and  difficulty.  How  I  wish 
that  all  these  hideous  scenes  were  past.  .  .  . 
Yours  ever, 

EUGENE  SCHUYLER." 

To  J.  S.  Fiske. 
"  PHILIPPOPOLIS,  Saturday  Evening. 
"  Things  are  prospering,  but  I  find  harder  work 
than  I  anticipated.     .    .    . 

"  In  the  evening,  Baring,  who  had  just  returned 
from  a  tour,  came  to  see  me.  I  liked  him — and 
my  first  impressions  have  been  confirmed  by  what 
I  have  seen  since.  .  .  . 

73 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

'''  Thursday  was  a  day  of  horror.  Calls,  work, 
the  Konak,  the  courts,  and  the  sight  of  a  priest 
hung  in  the  street.  My  every  movement  is  beset 
with  wretched  Bulgarian  women  and  children 
pleading  for  the  life  and  liberty  of  their  husbands 
and  fathers.  Then  I  went  through  the  prisons — 
crowded,  but  clean — prisoners  fed  on  bread  and 
water — many  petitions.  In  all  a  horrid  and  un 
comfortable  day.  As  to  outrages — I  am  burning 
with  indignation  and  rage — can  scarcely  contain 
myself.  There  may  be  exaggerations,  but  it  is 
sufficiently  horrible.  Lowest  estimate  of  Chris 
tians  killed  12,000,  highest  of  Turks  killed  two 
hundred  and  thirty,  of  whom  thirty  women,  but 
no  death  of  Mussulman  woman  or  child  has  been 
proved  to  me.  .  .  . 

"  Friday. — Went  to  Kutshura  and  Perushtitsa, 
the  latter  all  destroyed.  Sat  in  the  church-yard 
still  smelling  of  putrid  blood  and  heard  the  fearful 
tale — about  1,000  killed  there.  . 

Yours  ever, 

E.  S." 

To  J.  S.  Fiske. 

"  SLIVNO,  August  14,  1876,  Monday  Evening. 
"...  Since  leaving  Philippopolis,  I  have  done 
little  except  save  two  men  from  a  hanging,  and 
investigate.  We  arrived  at  Yamboli  Friday  even 
ing,  having  increased  our  train  by  Prince  Tsere- 
telef,  of  the  Russian  Embassy,  his  cavass  and  ser 
vant.  Saturday  we  investigated  very  thoroughly 

74 


A  MEMOIR 

Boyardjik,  which  was  wilfully  and  unnecessarily 
burned  by  Chefket  Pasha  (since  made  Marshal  of 
the  Palace),  and  where  about  two  hundred  people 
were  massacred.  On  returning  we  had  to  dine 
with  the  Mutessarif  of  Slivno,  Haider  Bey,  who 
was  there  on  a  visit.  He  is,  I  think,  the  best 
Turk  I  have  seen,  and  tries  to  do  well.  Yesterday 
morning  we  came  here  on  horseback  in  four  hours. 
This  is  a  charming  place,  unpillaged,  but  we  have 
been  drowned  with  deputations  and  investigations. 
To-morrow  we  cross  the  Balkans,  and  on  Wednes 
day  night  shall  be  at  Tirnova.  After  a  day  there 
we  go  to  Gabrovna  to  investigate  the  forty-one 
destroyed  villages  in  that  region — then  Kazzan- 
lyk,  Eski-Saara,  and  so  home. 

:'  The  English  left  Tirnova  to-day,  so  that  we 
shall  pass  them  on  the  road  to-morrow. 

"  As  to  the  two  men,  I  met  them  on  the  train 
which  brought  me  to  Yamboli,  heavily  ironed  and 
to  be  hung  the  next  morning  at  Slivno.  I  imme 
diately  telegraphed  to  Maynard,  Tseretelef  did  the 
same  to  his  Embassy.  I  then  told  the  Governor 
what  I  had  done  and  that  he  would  be  responsible 
if  the  men  were  hung  before  an  answer  came  from 
Constantinople.  Immediate  postponement,  and  to 
day  telegram,  saying :  '  Orders  have  been  given 
to  stop  all  executions  for  political  offences,  which 
accidentally  had  not  before  been  communicated.' 
The  two  men  were  to  be  imprisoned  in  chains  for 
life. 

"  The  result,  great  increase  of  our  influence,  and 

75 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

Umbessarif,  who  returned  to-day,  very  frank  and 
cordial.     .     .     . 

"  Everything  leads  me  to  think  that  I  have  been 
doing  much  good,  but  I  am  quite  cut  off  from  the 
world.  .  .  ." 

From  Philippopolis,  on  August  10,  1876,  Mr. 
Schuyler  sent  a  preliminary  report  to  his  Chief, 
which  was  published  while  he  was  still  in  Bulgaria. 

This  report  exceeded  the  very  worst  that  had 
been  told  by  the  missionaries.  Written  as  an  of 
ficial  document  by  the  Consul-General  and  Secre 
tary  of  Legation  of  the  United  States,  a  man  who, 
although  friendly  to  Russia,  had  exposed  Russian 
misrule  in  Asia,  and  who  was  moreover  noted  for 
his  accuracy,  it  had  an  instantaneous  and  tre 
mendous  effect  throughout  Europe,  and  particu 
larly  in  England.  The  Turks  were  probably  not 
wrong  in  considering  him  in  a  large  measure 
responsible  for  the  war  with  Russia. 

From  Moncure  D.  Comvay. 

"HAMLET  HOUSE,  HAMMERSMITH,  LONDON, 
September  21,  1876. 

"  MY  DEAR  SCHUYLER:  .  .  .  I  should  indeed 
have  written  to  you  before — several  times — if  I 
had  been  sure  of  my  letters  overtaking  you  in 
your  wanderings,  simply  to  tell  you  how  (person- 

76 


A  MEMOIR 

ally)  I  glory  in  the  admirable  service  you  have 
been  doing,  and  how  (Americanly)  proud  I  am  that 
our  Consul-General  should  be  on  hand  to  step  in 
where  European  diplomacy  faltered,  to  direct  and 
determine  the  path  of  the  storm,  to  sweep  away 
the  refuge  of  lies.  That  refuge  England  mainly 
has  protected,  but  will  protect  no  more.  This 
whole  kingdom  has  resolved  itself  into  a  meeting 
of  indignation  which  is  in  session  day  and  night, 
and  the  ministry  must  bend  or  break.  At  each  of 
these  meetings  a  resolution  of  thanks  is  offered  to 
you,  and  if  you  were  recognized  walking  in  the 
street,  you  would  be  followed  by  a  shouting  crowd. 
I  wish  your  letter  had  reached  me  fourteen  hours 
sooner,  for  I  should  have  had  it  in  my  pocket 
when  addressing  a  meeting  of  1,500  people,  who 
gathered  in  South  Place  Chapel  to  protest.  The 
house  was  crammed  to  overflowing.  I  gave  them 
some  account  of  you  and  your  service  in  the 
KJiokand  expedition,  and  circumstances  of  your 
transfer  to  Constantinople,  all  of  which  was  re 
ceived  with  loud  cheering.  The  Americans  have 
hardly  had  time  yet  to  get  the  full  hang  of  mat 
ters,  but  the  next  mail  will  bring  tidings  of  ex 
citement  there.  .  .  . 

"  Wife  comes  in  to  remind  me  (which  I  didn't 
need)  to  tell  you  that  when  you  next  come  to 
London  we  shall  have  an  old  English  mansion 
with  plenty  of  room  to  entertain  you  and  a  billiard- 
table  for  your  amusement,  after  the  long,  ugly 
tragedy  in  which  you  have  been  bearing  a  part. 

77 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

When  you  find  a  chance  for  a  private  rest  and 
armistice  of  your  own,  do  think  of  London — where 
you  will  find  a  thousand  friends  where  you  had 
one  or  two  before.  .  .  . 

Ever  yours, 

M.  D.  CONWAY." 

From  Edward  A.  Freeman. 

"  SOMERLEAZE,   WELLS,   SOMERSET, 

September  27,  1876. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to  send 
another  sum,  £439  7s.,  for  the  Bulgarian  sufferers. 
I  am  sure  there  is  no  one  to  whom  it  can  be  so 
well  intrusted  as  to  you  who  have  done  so  much 
for  the  cause.  I  have  now  sent  the  following 
sums.  .  .  . 

'  The  English  people  are  roused  as  they  never 
were  roused  before  within  my  memory.  They 
commonly  go  right  whenever  the  real  facts  are 
set  before  them,  and  this  time,  thanks  to  you  and 
the  Daily  News,  the  real  facts  have  been  set  before 
them.  Everybody  agrees  that  Baring's  report, 
with  all  his  wrigglings  to  excuse  the  Turk,  sub 
stantially  confirms  you  and  D.  N. 

"  Believe  me  yours  faithfully, 

EDWARD  A.  FREEMAN." 

The  following  letters  are  taken  almost  at  ran 
dom  from  many  similar  ones: 

"  EXCELLENCE  :  Les  mines  de  nos  eglises,  de 
nos  ecoles,  et  celles  de  nos  habitations,  les  mal- 

78 


A  MEMOIR 

heureux  qui  trainent  dans  nos  rues  et  pleurent 
leur  vie,  et,  le  petit  nombre  des  detenues  qui  palis- 
sent  encore  dans  les  prisons  sont  des  traces  et  des 
souvenirs  affreux  qui  nous  font  fondre  le  coeur  a 
chaque  instant.  Toutes  ces  traces  seront  effaces 
et  grace  a  votre  bonte  et  a  la  peine  que  vous 
prenez  pour  nous  tout  sera  oublie.  Mais,  il  est 
trop  penible,  il  est  grand  malheur  pour  nous 
lorsque  ces  choses  se  prolongent  et  trainent  leur 
chemin  longtemps  envers  nos  detenus.  Notre 
desir  le  plus  grand  est  d'en  finir  un  moment  plus 

tot. 

"  Grace  aux  secours  qui  vont  arriver  de  1'etran- 
ger  nos  etablissements  seront  releves  et  nos  mal- 
heureux  consolles  nous  1'esperons  bien;  mais  que 
faire  de  ces  detenus  qui  sont  encore  dans  les 
prisons.  La  plupart  d'eux  ne  sont  pas  interroges 
et  tous  ils  ne  savent  pas  pourquoi  on  les  retient  et 
jusqu'a  quand  on  les  retiendra.  Chacun  de  ces 
detenus  a  sa  famille  et  toutes  ces  families  sont  a 
la  discretion  de  toutes  espece  de  souffrances :  Feu, 
fer  et  des  voles  innombrables  nous  ont  epuises  et 
la  plupart  des  survecus  sont  laisses  nus  et  sans 
aucuns  ressources.  De  plus  il  faut  penser  que 
1'hiver  approche  a  grand  pas. 

"  Vous  avez  fait  beaucoup  pour  nous,  vous  nous 
avez  rendu  de  grands  services  a  nous,  et,  nous  ne 
pouvons  que  de  vous  en  etre  reconnaissants  jusque 
ce  que  un  Bulgare  existe  sur  la  terre.  Apres  tant 
du  bien  que  vous  nous  avez  fait,  veuillez  encore 
avoir  la  pitie  pour  quelques  malheureuses  families, 

79 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

veuillez  faire  lacher  nos  quatorze  detenus  qui  se 
trouvent  a  Philiple,  et  dont  cibas  sont  leurs  noms. 
Apres  tant  des  pertes  que  notre  village  a  subits, 
la  liberte  de  ces  detenus  lui  fera  gagner  beaucoup; 
le  village  entier  en  sera  consolle  et  soulage  infine- 
ment.  Les  noms  des  detenus:  Ne'ivro  Stoyanoff 
(pretre),  Pintcho  Stoytchoff,  Stoyan  Troptchoff, 
Pavel  Simonoff,  Rad  Nicoloff,  Na'iden  Stoyanoff, 
Peyo  Stoyanoff,  Mazine  Dettchoff,  Gueorgui 
Neytchoff,  Evan  Marinoff,  Petro  Radoff,  Pavel 
Nicoloff,  Thoma  Stoyoff,  Sto'iko  Stoyanoff. 

"  Apres  tout  cela  et  surtout  la  bonte  et  la  bien- 
veillance  qui  vous  font  distinguer  le  plus  nous  font 
esperer  que  vous  daignerez  accueuiller  favorable- 
ment  la  demande  que  nous  avons  1'honneur  de  vous 
adresser. 

"  Agreez  nos  reconnaissances  perpetuelles  at  nous 
sommes  Excellence  vos  serviteurs  les  plus  humbles 
vous  remerciant  d'avance: 

Le  28  Septembre  1876. 

Panaguiourichte 
(Otlou-Veni). 

Signatures  des  villageois : 

(Thirty-nine  signatures,  not  decipherable.)  " 

"  HONORABLE  SIR:  There  are  in  Dear-Bekir, 
as  you  know  well,  many  exiled  Bulgarians,  for 
political  causes,  who  were  free  to  live  in  the  town, 
and  gain  their  daily  bread  with  their  labour. 

"  Some  of  those  Bulgarians  before  eight  months 
being  in  a  state  of  despair,  as  it  seems,  escaped 

80 


A  MEMOIR 

from  that  city.  The  remaining  were  then  more 
rigorously  confined,  for  the  sole  reason  that  some 
of  their  co-sufferers  escaped  without  their  knowl 
edge. 

"  My  brother,  Christo  Illitch,  one  of  those  exiled 
at  that  place,  writes  to  me  that  they  heard,  with 
great  pleasure  and  gratitude,  that  you,  Honorable 
Sir,  hearing  about  their  misfortunes,  you  had  the 
kindness  to  speak  in  their  favour  before  the  Gov 
ernment,  asking  they  should  be  let  loose  so  that 
they  may  earn  their  daily  food  by  their  labour. 

"  But,  unfortunately,  they  are  kept  in  prison  still, 
and  almost  all  of  them  suffer  from  the  dampness 
of  the  place  and  from  the  climate. 

"  I  take  the  liberty  to  announce  all  those  and  to 
beg  you  most  humbly  to  help  them  in  any  way 
possible,  and  I  will  with  them  glorify  your  well 
doings,  as  they  are  glorified  by  the  whole  Bul 
garian  nation. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  Honorable  Sir, 

'  Your  most  respectful  and  obedient  servant, 

STEP.   ILLITCH. 

CONSTANTINOPLE,  16  Decembre  1876. 
To  the  Honorable  Mr.  Eug.  Schuyler,  etc.,  etc., 
Pera." 


On  his  return  to  Constantinople  he  found  himself 

almost  overwhelmed  with  work,  which  poured  in 

upon   him   from   every   direction.     Not   the   least 

important  item  was  the  preparation  of  his  formal 

VOL.  I.— 6  81 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

report,  to  which  the  one  already   published   had 
been  merely  preliminary. 

"  My  report  is  not  yet  finished  and  takes  much 
time  and  thought,  for  I  labour  to  be  strictly  accur 
ate,  and  to  meet  all  the  objections  which  will  cer 
tainly  be  brought  against  it. 

"  Mr.  Baring  has  been  sent  again  to  Bulgaria  to 
diminish  his  statements,  but  from  what  I  hear  he 
feels  more  inclined  to  strengthen  them." 

In  the  midst  of  this  excitement  his  book  on 
Central  Asia  appeared  and  went  rapidly  through 
several  editions.  He  writes  of  it: 

"  In  one  sense,  I  regret  that  my  book  should  be 
untimely  for  the  Russians  and  be  used  against 
them  in  the  Eastern  matter,  but  in  another  I  do 
not,  for  it  is  some  evidence  of  my  impartiality. 
Mr.  Boker  wrote  to  me  from  St.  Petersburg  that 
the  only  objection  to  my  book  in  the  Censor's 
office  was  a  light  remark  about  Catherine  II.  (vol. 
ii.,  p.  93),  but  that  at  last  even  this  passed. 
Speaking  of  Petersburg,  I  feel  that  I  should  like 
to  see  my  friends  there  again,  and  at  the  same  time 
I  feel  so  happy  that  I  am  not  there.  I  began  to 
detest  that  life  of  dining  out  and  card-playing  and 
uselessness.  Here  I  have  ten  times  the  real 
leisure  I  had  there,  and  do  ten  times  the  work. 
But  I  fear  there  must  be  a  change  even  here.  The 
Embassies  have  all  come  back  to  town,  and  that 

82 


A  MEMOIR 

will  necessitate  calls — to  say  the  least.  If  there 
should  be  a  conference  with  the  foreign  delegates 
that  are  suggested,  there  must  be  dinners,  soirees, 
and  waste  of  time.  Such  things  always  attract  me 
and  generally  bore  me." 


From  G.  H.  Boker. 

"  LEGATION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  October  26,  1876. 
"  MY  DEAR  SCHUYLER  :  ...  It  gave  me  great 
pleasure  to  read  in  the  Times  that  your  work  has 
already  reached  a  second  edition,  and  bids  fair  to 
go  through  many  more  before  its  '  run  '  is  over. 
I  have  not  as  yet  received  my  copy  of  the  book, 
after  which  I  have  been  hankering,  although 
your  volumes  are  for  sale  at  the  English  book 
shop,  where  I  have  seen  them  with  longing  eyes. 
The  people  at  that  shop  told  me  a  queer  story 
about  your  book,  when  they  were  attempting  to 
get  their  copies  through  the  Custom-house  with 
out  the  dreadful  chasms  of  black  ink  with  which 
our  Censor  so  lavishly  and  artistically  has  orna 
mented  the  pages  of  other  volumes.  It  seems 
that  the  embellishing  official  hung  over  your 
book,  paint-pot  in  hand,  for  a  half  hour,  revolving 
your  literary  atrocities  in  his  mighty  mind.  He 
said  that  he  did  not  care  one  damn  about  all  that 
you  had  said  of  Kaufmann,  nor  of  the  misdeeds 
and  the  horrors  perpetrated  by  the  Russians  in 
Central  Asia;  all  that  might  go  scot-free;  but  that 

83 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

story  about  the  Empress  Catherine  was  more  than 
he  could  stand!  What  do  you  think  of  that  for 
loyalty  to  an  Empress  whose  hot  bones  must  now 
be  bleaching  upon  the  roaring  shores  of  Hell,  if 
there  be  any  use  in  such  an  institution?  Finally 
the  stern  Censor  softened,  having  convinced  him 
self  that  Catherine  would  either  hear  nothing  or 
care  nothing  about  the  scandal,  and  your  book 
was  permitted  to  enter  without  a  single  blemish 
upon  its  fair  pages.  I  suspect  that  you  owe  this 
indulgence  to  the  immense  popularity  which  you 
have  attained  in  Russia  because  of  your  Bulgarian 
Report. 

"  Never  was  St.  Petersburg  so  deserted  of  all 
kinds  of  people,  official  and  unofficial,  as  it  is  just 
now.  .  .  .  It  is  impossible  to  get  a  word  of 
news  out  of  De  G.,  so  that  all  that  I  can  send  to 
the  Department  is  but  a  rehash  of  the  newspapers, 
and  my  own  feeble  and  unguided  speculations. 
So  far,  by  being  very  cautious  and  making  my 
predictions  capable  of  almost  any  interpretation, 
I  have  kept  my  foot  out  of  the  fire,  and,  read  by 
the  light  of  the  future,  my  despatches  will  seem 
ridiculous  to  no  one  so  much  as  to  myself. 

"  Socially  things  are  just  as  you  left  them.  We 
have  the  same  round  of  dinners  and  of  whist- 
parties  as  those  at  which  you  assisted,  the  only 
recruits  to  our  circle  being  Mrs.  Scott  and  Mrs. 
Boker,  who  seem  to  look  on  with  wonder  at  the 
placid  manner  in  which  we  all  bear  one  another's 
stupidity.  ...  Of  course  we  often  discuss  you 


A  MEMOIR 

and  your  late  history,  and  as  I  have  yet  to  hear 
ventured  a  single  word  of  disfavour,  even  by  your 
Turk-loving  friends  at  the  British  Embassy,  I  am 
beginning  to  think  that  you  are  an  extraordinary 
man,  and  that  you  must  have  left  a  deal  of  affec 
tion  behind  you,  inasmuch  as  no  abuse  has  yet 
burst  forth  from  a  flaw  in  any  one's  friend 
ship.  .  .  . 

"  With  my  best  wishes,  I  am 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

GEO.  H.  BOKER." 


To  Mrs.  Schaeffer. 
"CONSTANTINOPLE,  November  15,  1876. 

"  MY  DEAR  EVELYN  :  .  .  .  I  cannot  help 
being  amused  at  what  is  said  about  me.  Even 
the  Tribune,  in  a  review  of  my  book,  calls  me  a 
'  man  of  singular  courage.'  Why,  I  am  as  tim 
orous  as  a  cat  about  some  things — precipices,  for 
instance.  I  don't  know  that  I  have  any  courage, 
except  for  saying  disagreeable  things,  and  that  is 
apt  to  be  called  impudence.  You  ought  to  see  a 
picture  of  me  that  appeared  in  a  Vienna  paper.  I 
keep  it  to  prevent  my  growing  vain,  for  it  is  de 
testably  ugly.  .  .  . 

"  I  am  fearfully  busy.  Just  now  I  am  getting 
up  a  Constitution  for  Bulgaria.  General  Ignatief 
is  to  present  it  at  the  Conference,  and  as  Russia 
threatens  to  fight  unless  she  gets  what  she  wants, 
I  am  anxious  to  make  it  a  good  one.  .  .  ." 

8s 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

His  work  on  the  Constitution  was  interrupted 
by  a  visit  to  Bulgaria. 

"  I  hope  to  come  back  with  material  enough  to 
support  their  case  before  the  assembled  diplomatic 
wisdom.  .  .  .  My  full  report  of  the  Massacres 
was  finished  to-day,  and  I  flatter  myself  it  is  com 
plete  and  unattackable. 

"  One  of  the  commissions  I  have  in  Bulgaria  is 
to  bring  back  with  me  twenty  little  she-orphans, 
aged  from  seven  to  twelve,  for  adoption  in  Russia. 
Imagine  my  doing  it !  " 

The  Turks  objected  to  his  going  back  to  Bul 
garia,  and  refused,  under  various  pretexts,  to  give 
him  a  travelling  pass,  so  he  took  the  risk  of  going 
without  one,  merely  saying  that  they  would  be 
held  responsible  if  anything  happened  to  him;  an 
act  which  certainly  required  the  courage  which  he 
disclaimed.  However,  when  he  wanted  to  do  a 
thing  he  did  it. 

To  Miss  King. 

"  PHILIPPOPOLIS,  November  28th. 
"...  Don't  think  from  my  heading  that  I 
am  in  the  midst  of  horrors.  On  the  contrary — I 
find  things  much  better  than  I  expected.  A  cer 
tain  amount  of  security  is  restored  to  the  country, 
which  gives  me  the  hope  that  reforms  could  be 
carried  out  without  new  massacres.  In  my  opinion 

86 


A  MEMOIR 

much  will  depend  on  the  punishment  of  some  of 
the  leaders  of  the  bashi-bazouks.  The  commission 
is  slowly  considering  their  cases,  but  is,  I  think, 
waiting  to  see  the  result  of  the  conference,  and  to 
know  whether  to  punish  or  to  liberate. 

"  I  have  visited  two  of  the  burned  villages,  and 
find  that  the  Turks  have  really  done  something  in 
the  way  of  rebuilding — much  more  than  I  ex 
pected.  It  amuses  me  however  to  see  the  credit 
they  take  to  themselves  for  this,  and  that  they 
offer  it  as  proof  of  their  humanity.  If  all  Europe 
had  not  cried  out,  nothing  of  the  kind  of  course 
would  ever  have  been  done.  The  Relief  Com 
mittees  are  on  the  whole  doing  very  well.  Lady 
Strangford  is  working  admirably  and  with  great 
pluck  and  perseverance.  She  has  gone  to  Batak 
to  establish  some  English  nurses  in  the  hospital 
built  there. 

"  Our  Relief  Committee  at  Philippopolis  is,  I  am 
happy  to  say,  very  successful  and  has  in  its  way 
done  more  good  than  any  of  the  others.  It  de 
votes  itself  solely  to  the  relief  of  widows  and  or 
phans.  I  visited  the  asylums  and  saw  those  who 
live  there.  They  all  look  well,  clean,  and  com 
fortable.  The  children  are  bright  and  all  go  to 
school.  ...  I  came  up  here  partly  to  establish 
a  Vice-Consul,  but  I  find  that  at  the  last  moment 
my  nominee  refuses,  from  patriotic  motives,  be 
cause  he  doesn't  wish  to  protect  the  missionaries 
or  to  be  mixed  up  in  their  affairs.  And  I  don't 
know  whom  else  to  name.  By  the  way,  d'Istria, 

87 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

the  French  Vice-Consul,  is  acting  splendidly.  He 
is  the  president  of  our  Relief  Committee  and  is 
working  hard,  and  besides  has  great  trouble  with 
the  authorities  to  secure  the  punishment  of  the 
murderers  of  two  Frenchmen  during  the  troubles. 
"  I  shall  have  to  carry  this  letter  back  to  Constan 
tinople  myself,  but  I  don't  know  when  it  will  be. 
I  came  by  the  last  train,  as  there  has  been  a  flood 
which  has  washed  away  the  railway,  and  no  trains 
have  yet  got  through.  I  am  anxious  to  get  back, 
because  I  have  some  work  for  the  Conference,  and 
because  the  Porte,  not  content  with  refusing  me 
permission  to  come  here,  has  taken  occasion  to 
abuse  me  well  in  the  journals  and  to  accuse  me  of 
everything  under  the  sun.  Under  such  circum 
stances,  I  think  my  presence  desirable;  then,  too, 
I  have  done  what  I  had  to  do  and  have  got  the  in 
formation  I  desired." 


"  To  Eugene  Schuyler,  Esq.,  Consul-General  of  the 
United  States  in  Constantinople. 

"  SIR  :  We  gladly  avail  ourselves  of  the  oppor 
tunity  afforded  by  your  second  visit  to  our  town 
to  tender  you  our  most  heart-felt  thanks  for  your 
services  to  Bulgaria.  No  nation  has  ever  con 
tracted  such  a  debt  of  gratitude  towards  the  disin 
terested  defenders  of  truth  as  we  have  done  towards 
you  and  the  noble  band  of  your  fellow-workers. 
To  all  of  them  we  are  deeply  indebted,  but  we 
cannot  forget,  Sir,  that  it  was  only  when  the 

88 


A  MEMOIR 

weight  of  your  name  was  added  to  the  reports  of 
our  misfortunes  which  reached  England,  that  that 
explosion  of  feeling  broke  out  which  has  saved  a 
nation  and  marked  an  epoch.  Be  good  enough  to 
accept  our  thanks  and  the  expression  of  our  hope 
that  you  will  continue  in  the  future  also  those 
labours  on  behalf  of  the  Bulgarians  which  have  al 
ready  earned  for  you  their  eternal  gratitude. 

"  On  behalf  of  the  Bulgarians  of  Philippopolis, 
The  President  of  the  Diocesan  Council, 
A.  ENUCERON  SESSBEICIU. 

PHILIPPOPOLIS,  November  £f,  1876." 


Meantime  Mr.  Schuyler  was  experiencing  some 
of  the  annoyances  which  beset  the  champion  of 
an  unpopular  cause.  Outside  of  Turkey  he  had 
become  famous  and  popular,  but  naturally  he  was 
hated  by  the  Turks,  and  still  more  by  English 
society,  which,  as  he  said,  "  is  assuring  each  other 
that  I  am  a  little  devil  incarnate." 

"  I  amuse  myself  greatly  in  making  the  acquaint 
ance  of  some  of  the  English  residents.  They  are 
all  more  Turkophile  than  the  Turks,  and  have 
most  horrible  ideas  about  me — without  knowing 
me — call  me  a  Russian  spy,  a  Turkenfresser,  say  I 
had  no  business  to  come  here  and  meddle,  etc.,  etc. 
They  milden  down  a  little  when  they  find  I  am 
mild  and  peaceable-looking,  and  don't  abuse  them 
up  and  down  as  soon  as  I  am  introduced.  Some 

89 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

of  them,  I  think,  positively  hated  me.  The  Eng 
lish  here — to  explain  this — are  either  Levantines, 
or  are  connected  in  some  way  with  the  Govern 
ment  (Turkish),  and  therefore  their  duty  and 
their  interest  both  make  them  love  the  Turks. 
Then  the  English  Embassy  has  so  long  been 
Turkophile  that  it  has  given  the  tone  to  the  Eng 
lish  society  that  revolves — even  distantly — around 
the  Embassy.  Among  the  merchants,  who  have 
no  social  relations  with  the  Embassy,  the  feeling  is 
very  different.  I  have  no  doubt  that  with  a  new 
Ambassador  of  different  ideas,  the  tone  would  be 
soon  changed  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the 
time." 

The  representatives  of  the  Powers  assembled  at 
Constantinople  early  in  December.  It  was  hoped 
that  the  Porte  would  be  induced  to  grant  certain 
guarantees  for  the  protection  of  the  oppressed 
provinces  and  that  war  would  be  averted.  The 
Conference,  however,  was  destined  to  be  a  failure. 
Emboldened  by  the  moral  support  of  England,  the 
Porte  refused,  in  the  end,  to  accede  to  the  require 
ments  of  the  Powers. 

"  Lord  Salisbury  is  expected  to  arrive  to-day. 
Chaudordy  is  here.  .  .  .  The  English  have 
asked  many  of  their  Consuls  to  come  and  give  in 
formation.  Mr.  White  has  come  down  from  Bel 
grade.  He  was  so  polite  to  me  there  and  is  such 

90 


A  MEMOIR 

a  charming  man  that  I  was  delighted  to  see  him. 
He  dined  with  me  last  night.  The  Austrians  have 
sent  as  their  representative  Calice,  who  is  only 
Consul-General  at  Bucarest.  Count  Zichy,  the 
Ambassador,  is  furious.  Plenty  of  other  people 
come  too — especially  correspondents,  many  of 
them  recommended  to  me.  .  .  . 

"  A  letter  from  the  Russians  telling  me  I  must 
work  harder  and  come  after  lunch  and  help  finish 
the  Bulgarian  Constitution.  .  .  . 

"  December  ?th. — To-day  I  have  had  to  do  a 
disagreeable  duty.  I  went  to  the  Central  Relief 
Committee  to  protest  against  Mr. (an  Amer 
ican  missionary)  reading  the  Bible  and  praying  in 
the  Hospital  at  Batok.  I  have  no  especial  objec 
tions  to  this  myself,  but  the  Committee  agreed  to 
do  nothing  sectarian,  and  the  Bulgarians  decidedly 

object  to  Mr. 's  proceedings  as  an  attempt  to 

proselytise  them.  We  must  respect  their  scruples, 
especially  when  they  are  in  such  difficulties.  .  .  . 

"  Since  Lord  Salisbury  has  arrived,  things  look 
more  peaceful.  He  seems  inclined  to  come  to 
terms  with  the  Russians — far  more  than  Elliot  is. 
Mme.  Ignatief  goes  into  raptures  over  Lady  Salis 
bury,  etc." 

"  CONSTANTINOPLE,  December  i2th. 
"...     The  Bulgarian  Constitution  is  done 
and  has  been  accepted  by  Salisbury  as  the  basis 
of  discussion.     I  think  it  will  get  through  with 
out  a  great  many  modifications,  and  what  I  am 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

chiefly  interested  in  is  that  Bulgaria  be  left  as  a 
unity,  instead  of  being  divided  into  several  sepa 
rate  provinces.  .  .  ." 

To  Miss  King. 
44  CONSTANTINOPLE,  December  19,  1876. 

"  .  .  .  It  begins  to  look  now  as  though  the 
Conference  would  soon  be  over.  Everyone  has 
been  calculating  on  several  weeks  yet  of  talk,  but 
a  sudden  desire  of  conciliation  seems  to  have 
taken  hold  of  all  the  members,  and  they  have  so 
nearly  agreed  that  they  hope  to  present  their  plans 
to  the  Turks  on  Saturday.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
no  chance  will  be  given  to  the  Turks  for  discus 
sion,  but  that  they  will  be  forced  to  say  either  yes 
or  no.  Otherwise  the  Conference  will  be  apt  to 
last  all  winter,  for  the  Turks  are  fertile  in  delays 
and  apt  at  procrastination.  .  .  . 

"  Did  I  tell  you  that  we  had  been  to  St.  Sophia 
at  last — the  most  wonderful  church  that  ever  I 
saw?  I  am  trying  at  last  to  see  some  of  the  sights. 
.  .  .  We  find  that  there  are  thirty-six  old  Greek 
churches  left — all  but  four  of  which  are  mosques — 
and  we  hope  to  see  them  all  or  perish  in  the  at 
tempt.  I  must  have  something  for  relaxation, 
especially  as  I  am  thinking  of  beginning  another 
book.  By  the  way,  do  you  know  that  '  Turkistan  ' 
has  reached  its  fifth  edition  in  England  and  its 
second  in  America?  Did  I  tell  you  that  I  have 
been  elected  to  the  Royal  Geographical  and  Royal 
Asiatic  Societies  (English)  in  consequence?  .  .  ." 

92 


A  MEMOIR 

Diary. 
"PERA,  January  i,  Monday,  1877. 

"...  After  lunch  went  out  for  New  Year  calls 
and  cards.  Met  Mr.  White  (English  Agent,  Bel 
grade)  in  the  street,  who  told  me  affairs  were  look 
ing  very  critical.  Found  Sala1  at  home,  and  had 
a  little  talk  with  him,  and  afterwards  with  Campbell 
Clarke.  Both  are  immensely  disgusted  with  the 
Daily  Telegraph  for  not  printing  or  misprinting 
letters  and  telegrams,  and  for  taking  such  an  ab 
surdly  wrong  tone  in  opposition  to  all  the  facts. 
Sala  says  Arnold,  who  is  the  chief  leader  writer, 
'  is  bitten  by  the  Oriental  tarantula/  fears  for 
India,  dreads  Russia,  etc.,  etc. 

"  After  dinner  went  to  a  soiree  at  General  Igna- 
tiefs.  Even  Lady  and  Miss  Elliot  were  there. 
Lord  Salisbury  said  to  me :  '  Well,  you  see,  they 
are  sending  us  away  sooner  than  we  expected.' 
We  had  some  little  talk,  in  which  d'Ehrenhoff 2 
and  afterwards  Tseretelef  joined.  I  told  of  the 
farcical  elections  at  Salonica,  and  then  of  Chefket 
Pasha.  D'Ehrenhoff  tried  to  defend  the  Turks. 
Salisbury  was  inclined  to  be  a  little  bitter  against 
them.  He  is  evidently  impatient  of  them  and 
anxious  to  get  away.  After  all  were  gone,  I  had 
rather  a  long  talk  with  General  Ignatief.  He  told 
me  what  had  taken  place  at  the  Conference,  and 
hinted  that  Elliot  and  Beaconsfield  were  trying 
some  underhand  game  to  make  the  Turks  obsti 
nate.  I  referred  to  various  rumours.  He  assured 

1  George  Augustus  Sala.  2  The  Swedish  Minister. 

93 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

me  Russia  had  no  intention  of  backing  out;  that 
all  the  stories  of  faults  in  mobilisation,  of  illness 
of  troops,  etc.,  were  all  lies.  The  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas  had  telegraphed  to  him  that  evening, 
asking  when  he  could  cross  the  frontier. 

"  What  happened  at  the  Conference  seems  to 
have  been  this:  On  Saturday  (December  3Oth), 
Turks  presented  certain  counter  propositions 
which  consisted  in  brief  in  accepting  a  part  of  the 
provisions  for  the  cantonal  administration,  another 
Russian  project  for  Bulgaria,  and  applying  them 
to  the  whole  Empire,  but  leaving  out  all  the  rest 
of  the  project.  This  proposition  was  sent  in  writ 
ing  to  General  Ignatief  about  six  o'clock  Saturday 
evening.  Prince  Tseretelef  sat  up  most  of  the 
night  making  an  analysis  and  criticisms  of  it. 
This  was  approved  by  General  Ignatief  and  copies 
were  sent  the  next  day  to  the  other  representa 
tives.  A  private  meeting  of  members  of  the  six 
powers  was  held  Sunday  afternoon  at  General 
Ignatiefs  house,  and  it  was  decided  that  the 
Turkish  proposition  could  not  be  accepted  nor 
even  discussed.  At  the  meeting  on  Monday 
therefore  Lord  Salisbury,  as  the  spokesman  of  the 
Conference,  said  to  Safvet  Pasha  that  it  was  im 
possible  for  them  to  discuss  the  Turkish  counter 
proposition.  This  caused  considerable  ebullition 
of  feeling  on  the  part  of  the  Turkish  delegates. 
The  question  was  then  asked  whether  the  Turks 
would  consider  the  propositions  of  the  Conference. 
To  this  Safvet  Pasha  replied  that  it  would  be  im- 

94 


A  MEMOIR 

possible  even  to  consider  them  unless  many  points 
were  eliminated.  Ignatief  said  that  according  to 
his  instructions  he  could  not  discuss  the  project  at 
all  if  the  Turks  had  made  up  their  minds  to  refuse 
certain  articles  as  soon  as  they  were  reached.  He 
asked  what  the  points  were  that  the  Turks  wished 
to  eliminate.  Safvet  Pasha  enumerated  several 
of  them,  including  the  gendarmerie,  the  interna 
tional  commission,  the  provincial  assembly,  reform 
of  taxes,  interference  of  Powers  in  appointing  the 
Governor-General  and  other  officers,  etc.  When 
he  reached  this  point  Ignatief  wrote  a  few  words 
on  paper  and  handed  it  to  Salisbury  and  with  his 
assent  said  this  was  a  mere  farce  and  waste  of 
time.  There  was  no  use  going  farther  if  the 
Turks  eliminated  all  the  propositions  which  con 
stituted  the  merit  of  the  scheme.  The  Turks  then 
refused  to  discuss  the  matter  further,  and  General 
Ignatief  asked  for  a  firman  for  a  vessel  to  carry 
him  to  Odessa.  He  was  followed  by  Salisbury, 
Zichy,  Werther,  Chaudordy  and  Corti.  Safvet 
seemed  astonished  at  this  situation  and  said,  '  There 
is  no  necessity  for  going  away/  adding,  '  Est-ce 
que  r Europe  est  folle?  '  The  Conference  then  broke 
up  to  meet  on  Thursday. 

"  Tuesday,  January  2d. — There  was  to-day  a 
meeting  of  the  Representatives  of  the  Powers  at 
General  Ignatief  s  to  adopt  a  line  of  action  to  be 
pursued  on  Thursday.  It  is  not  definitely  known 
what  this  is,  but  it  is  thought  that  they  have  all 
agreed  to  leave  Constantinople  as  soon  as  possible 

95 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

after  the  refusal  of  the  Turks  at  the  next  Confer 
ence.  This  refusal  is  considered  to  be  highly 
probable. 

"  Wrote  to-day  to  Lawson  to  say  that  Daily  Tele 
graph  was  pursuing  a  very  wrong  course,  and  was 
inciting  the  Turks  to  resist  and  thus  provoking 
war.  Currie  told  MacGahan  that  Lord  Salisbury 
felt  very  much  the  same  way.  It  is  believed  here 
that  Beaconsfield  is  inspiring  the  Telegraph  and 
that  both  he  and  Elliot  are  trying  to  counteract 
Salisbury.  Cannot  believe  this.  .  .  . 

"  I  am  beginning  to  think  that  in  case  of  war, 
Russia's  policy  will  be,  after  beating  Turkey  well, 
and  making  the  provinces  into  autonomous  states, 
to  keep  Turkey  at  Constantinople,  and  make  it  a 
very  weak  power,  always  subject  to  Russian  influ 
ence." 

To  Miss  King. 
"  CONSTANTINOPLE,  January  2,  1877. 

"...  We  are  in  turmoil  here — political,  for  it 
looks  more  like  war  than  ever,  and  the  Conference 
has  nearly  gone  to  pieces; — social,  for  calls  and 
cards  have  to  be  exchanged  with  lightning  rapid 
ity.  .  .  .  We  hardly  know  here  what  a  day  may 
bring  forth.  Last  week  everything  was  peaceful, 
this  week  everything  is  warlike  and  unsettled.  The 
Ambassadors  are  talking  of  going  away,  and  unless 
the  Turks  are  more  yielding  next  Thursday  they 
will.  I  think  Lord  Salisbury  has  fully  made  up 
his  mind  not  to  stand  this  sort  of  thing  any  longer. 
The  Turks  in  one  way  have  not  played  their  cards 

96 


A  MEMOIR 

well,  for  none  of  the  new  men  seem  to  love  them. 
Sir  Henry  Elliot  is  still  obdurately  fond  of  them, 
and  Baring,  who  is  a  good  fellow,  has  no  end  of 
complaints  against  him.  Well,  Elliot  is  going  off 
on  leave  of  absence  in  any  case. 

"  I  have  been  nowhere  since  I  wrote  last,  except 
to  make  some  calls,  and  last  night  to  a  soiree  at 
the  Ignatiefs'.  The  outsiders  here  don't  seem  to 
entertain  this  winter,  so  that  one  rarely  meets 
them.  But  I  am  beginning  to  find  that  there  are 
many  pleasant  people  here,  in  spite  of  their  senti 
ments  and  their  political  views.  I  wish  they  would 
forego  my  opinions  in  the  same  way.  Little  by 
little,  they'll  find  out  that  I  can  criticise  the  Turk 
ish  administration  and  still  be  a  respectable  mem 
ber  of  society.  Meanwhile  I  am  reading  some  old 
English  plays  and  don't  trouble  myself  much  about 
them.  .  .  ." 

•'  CONSTANTINOPLE,  January  12,  1877. 
" .  .  .  The  Conference  winds  its  slow  length 
along,  astonishing  the  people  who  expect  to  see  it 
burst  up  daily.  The  Turks  are  very  obstinate, 
and  yet  manifest  signs  of  giving  in.  Lord  Salis 
bury  is  getting  furious  at  them.  The  rupture  be 
tween  him  and  Elliot  is  now  very  open,  and  both 
sides  take  little  pains  to  conceal  their  feelings. 
There  would  seem  to  be  little  doubt  that  Elliot  is 
encouraging  the  Turks  and  working  against  Salis 
bury.  Hints  have  been  given  me  that  Beacons- 
field  is  doing  the  same  thing.  If  this  be  so,  a  split 
VOL.  i.— 7  97 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

in  the  Cabinet  is  inevitable  as  soon  as  Parliament 
meets,  and  I  think  Salisbury  will  win,  for  he  will 
have  part  of  the  Conservatives  and  all  the  Liberals 
to  back  him.  The  situation  is  further  complicated 
by  the  attitude  of  Germany.  It  appears  that  Bis 
marck  has  given  Baron  Werther  here  a  sort  of 
reprimand  for  his  moderation,  and  ordered  him  not 
to  give  in  to  the  Turks.  It  is  Lord  Salisbury's 
opinion  that  Bismarck,  *  for  reasons  of  his  own/ 
desires  to  get  Europe  into  a  general  war.  I  think 
those  reasons  point  towards  France.  The  Russians 
seem  more  yielding  than  before,  but  whether  it 
comes  of  unwillingness  for  war,  or  whether  they 
are  trying  to  lead  the  Turks  on  in  obstinacy  to 
make  them  fight,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  All  I 
know  surely  is  that  when  the  Porte  looks  like  re 
fusing,  Ignatief  is  very  good-humoured,  and  when 
there  seems  a  chance  of  arranging  matters,  he  looks 
cross.  .  .  ." 

"CONSTANTINOPLE,  January  i6th. 
"...  My  last  excitement  is  being  '  medalled/ 
The  Prince  of  Roumania,  whose  acquaintance  I 
made  when  I  was  in  Bucarest  last  summer,  and 
who  seems  to  be  equally — in  triangular-wise — im 
pressed  with  my  '  person  '  (so  the  letter  of  the  Mar 
shal  states),  my  book,  and  my  Bulgarian  report, 
has  given  me  a  medal  *  Bene  Merenti '-  -'  distinc 
tion  exclusivement  reservee  a  ceux  qui  out  bien  merite 
de  rhumanite.'  .  .  .  After  having  satisfied  myself 
that  a  medal  is  an  award,  and  neither  '  an  emolu- 


A  MEMOIR 

merit,  pecuniary  favour,  office  or  title,'  I  have  writ 
ten  to  say  I  have  accepted.    .    .    ." 

"  January  i9th. 

"...  We  had  a  very  pleasant  dinner  two  days 
ago  with  the  wardroom  officers  of  the  Vandalia. 
Last  night  was  the  last  soiree  of  the  Ignatiefs,  but  I 
didn't  feel  well  enough  to  go,  and  shall  bid  every 
body  good-by  at  the  Greek  Minister's  to-morrow 
night.  It  seems  settled  now  that  everybody  is  go 
ing  away  on  Sunday  or  Monday.  The  Turks  held 
a  great  council  yesterday,  which  unanimously  re 
solved  to  reject  the  proposals  of  the  Conference. 
The  people  who  feel  worst  are  the  Turcophiles. 
They  have  all  along  counselled  the  Porte  to  resist 
ance,  and  now  they  begin  to  look  at  the  matter 
seriously,  and  wonder  what  will  happen.  It  would 
serve  them  right  if  the  Turks  should  turn  them  all 
out  of  their  places.  In  the  present  feeling  against 
foreigners  this  is  very  possible. 

"  Lord  Salisbury,  in  a  certain  way,  regrets  the 
failure  of  his  mission,  which  was  to  arrange  a  peace, 
but  he  has  been  so  much  worried  with  the  delays 
and  ill-will  of  the  Turks  that  I  think  he  much  prefers 
a  definite  refusal  to  any  further  haggling.  The  men 
who  most  sincerely  regret  the  failure  of  the  Confer 
ence  are  the  French  delegates.  They  wanted  peace 
at  any  price,  and  would  have  yielded  still  more. 
From  their  point  of  view — the  attitude  of  Germany 
— they  are  quite  right.  Even  I  would  rather  have 
Bulgaria  wait  a  little  than  France  attacked.  .  .  ." 

99 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  CONSTANTINOPLE,  January  23d. 

"...  We  are  in  the  midst  of  a  terrible  storm, 
which  has  lasted  already  for  several  days,  and  which 
may  last  for  several  more.  General  Ignatief  says: 
'  Le  temps  est-  contre  nous;  notrc  coup  a  manque' 
Lord  Salisbury's  party  got  off  yesterday,  as  they  go 
by  the  Mediterranean.  But  all  the  rest,  who  jour 
ney  by  the  Black  Sea,  are  afraid  to  voyage  in  the 
teeth  of  this  north  wind. 

"  The  final  refusal  of  the  Turks  was  on  Saturday. 
Sunday  evening  the  protocol  was  to  be  signed  at 
Count  Zichy's,  and  there  was  a  little  soiree  d'adieu. 
The  Turkish  plenipotentiaries  did  not  turn  up, 
though  they  sent  no  excuses,  and  the  paper  had  to 
be  signed  without  them.  It  was  a  final  exhibition 
of  spite,  which,  however,  did  no  one  any  harm. 
Saturday  evening  I  dined  with  Count  Corti,  and 
went  afterwards  to  a  pleasant  little  party  at  the 
Greek  Minister's.  Last  night  Mr.  White  and  Sala 
dined  here  very  quietly. 

"  Now  for  a  lull  in  the  political  storm  and  a  period 
of  rest  and  work.  I  have  nearly  finished  my  com 
mercial  report,  and  shall  soon  be  at  leisure  to  take 
up  some  more  pleasant  work — editing  some  old 
travels  of  Russians  in  various  parts  of  the  world, 
which  I  promised  to  do  for  the  Hakluyt  So 
ciety.  .  .  ." 

"  January  26th,  Friday. 

"  The  weather  is  still  as  bad  as  bad  can  be.  Not 
only  can  I  not  go  anywhere,  but  no  one  can  go  any 
where.  Elliot  got  off  yesterday,  because  he  goes 

100 


A  MEMOIR 

by  the  Mediterranean;  but  the  other  ambassadors 
are  all  still  here. 

"  I  got  last  night  my  Roumanian  medal.  It  is  the 
first  class,  No.  6,  which  shows  that  it  is  a  rarity,  and 
may  some  day  be  a  curiosity.  .  .  ." 

From  W.  E.  Gladstone. 

(Address) 

"  7  HARLEY  STREET,  LONDON, 
January  29,  1877. 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  thank  you  very  cordially  for 
your  letter  of  the  Qth.  It  was  a  satisfaction  to  me 
to  have  the  power  of  reading  your  report  in  words 
which,  unless  as  to  some  possible  errors  of  typog 
raphy,  appear  to  have  had  your  own  sanction.  It 
is  an  appalling  document.  By  its  production  you 
conferred  a  great  service  upon  the  people  of  my 
country,  if  not  upon  all  Christendom.  I  am  glad 
to  tell  you  confidently  that  this  service  is  known 
and  felt  all  over  England.  The  day  before  yester 
day  I  had  to  address  a  public  meeting  at  Taunton, 
one  of  our  small  towns  in  a  rural  and  rather  remote 
district.  I  mentioned  your  name  partly  to  test  the 
feeling  and  knowledge  of  a  community  of  this  class; 
and  I  wish  you  had  heard  the  hearty  cheering  with 
which  it  was  received. 

"  All  that  has  been  said  about  a  reaction  in  the 
national  feeling  here  is  so  much  trash.  The  people 
do  not  repent,  and  will  not  repent,  of  their  outburst 
in  August.  The  majority  of  the  London  news 
papers  are  governed  by  the  sentiment  of  the  clubs 

101 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

of  the  West  End.  Clubs  in  the  first  French  Revo 
lution  and  in  the  Italian  movement  were  the  organs 
of  popular  feeling.  Now  they  are  the  homes  of  the 
anti-popular  sentiment.  Of  all  the  great  legislative 
measures,  which  in  this  country  have  given  name 
and  mark  to  the  age,  there  is  not  one  that  has  been 
carried  by  the  agency  or  with  the  approval  of  these 
clubs.  The  question  is,  whether  the  present  House 
of  Commons,  which  is  intensely  ministerial,  will  in 
any  tolerable  degree  answer  to  the  national  senti 
ment.  This  must  remain  for  a  time  uncertain. 
But  come  what  may,  the  people  are  sound;  and  in 
due  time  they  will  prove  it  authentically,  if  they 
have  the  opportunity. 

'''  What  we  want  is  a  steady  flow  of  information  on 
all  the  parts  of  this  great  and  many-sided  question. 
I  am  gratified  with  the  announcement,  then,  of 
your  further  report  on  Bulgaria,  and  thankful  for 
your  promise  to  send  it  me. 

"  Pray  do  not  be  uneasy  about  the  Turkestan 
business.  What  I  wrote  has  served  its  purpose  and 
stopped  the  mouth  of  falsehood.  I  well  knew  that 
the  editor  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  must  reply,  and 
must  reply  by  charging  me  with  lying,  for  he  had  no 
other  weapon.  I  am  content.1 

"  Again  expressing  my  share  of  gratitude  for 
your  services  to  truth,  justice,  and  humanity,  and 

1  This  refers  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  discussion  with  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 
He  had  used  "  Turkistan  "  as  an  authority,  and  in  reply  to  a  subsequent  letter 
of  inquiry  Mr.  Schuyler  had  been  obliged  to  inform  him  that  he  had  mistaken 
the  meaning  of  a  certain  passage  in  the  book. 


102 


A  MEMOIR 

heartily  wishing  that   God  may  prosper  all  your 
labours,  I  remain,  my  dear  sir, 

"  Most  faithfully  yours, 

W.  E.  GLADSTONE. 
EUGENE  SCHUYLER,  ESQ." 

Meantime  the  Turkish  Minister  in  Washington 
was  doing  everything  in  his  power  to  injure  Mr. 
Schuyler,  without  bringing  forward  the  real  griev 
ance.  In  an  earlier  letter  the  latter  had  said:  "I 
think  the  Government  would  be  glad  to  get  rid  of 
me,  but  will  not  dare  to  say  so.  It  couldn't  more 
plainly  confess  the  weakness  of  its  cause."  On 
February  16,  1877,  he  wrote: 

"  It  seems  that  the  Turks  attacked  me  at  Wash 
ington  and  accused  me  of  all  sorts  of  things,  among 
others  putting  into  my  mouth  '  that  I  had  come 
here  to  destroy  the  Ottoman  Empire.'  This  I  was 
supposed  to  have  said  at  a  private  dinner-party  at 
Adrianople.  Mr.  Fish  gave  the  Turks  a  very- 
proper  answer,  and  informs  me  of  what  they  have 
said,  to  which,  of  course,  my  reply  is  one  of  the 
easiest." 

About  the  end  of  March,  writing  on  the  eve  of 
a  short  visit  to  Athens,  he  says: 

"  Everything  now  looks  very  warlike,  and  Stam- 
boul  is  in  great  excitement.  It  is  said  that  the 
arriero  ban  has  been  called  out.  If  there  should  be 

103 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

war  now,  it  would  be  entirely  the  fault  of  England, 
which  pursues  a  wretched  policy  under  the  guise  of 
preserving  the  peace." 

War  between  Russia  and  Turkey  was  declared  in 
April,  and  on  May  I3th  he  wrote: 

[<  The  Bosphorus  is  quiet  and  lovely,  as  it  was  last 
summer;  the  only  sign  of  war  I  can  see  is  the  greater 
stillness.  There  are  fewer  vessels  going  to  and 
coming  from  the  Black  Sea.  For  all  else  we  might 
be  in  Italy  or  Corsica.  Here  no  rumour  even 
comes  nowadays.  .  .  . 

"  I  had  a  visit  the  other  day  from  Yussuf  Zia, 
the  Member  from  Jerusalem  (doesn't  that  sound 
strange?),  who  has  made  such  a  sensation  in  the 
Parliament  by  his  eloquence  and  boldness.  It  was 
almost  dinner-time,  but  I  nerved  myself  for  a  long 
Turkish  call  with  stupid  compliments  and  a  great 
deal  of  ennui.  To  my  astonishment  the  Member 
from  Jerusalem  spoke  English  and  French  very 
well,  and  the  conversation  became  lively.  Yussuf 
Zia  was  almost  as  liberal  as  a  French  Republican, 
both  in  politics  and  religion.  Though  a  Mussul 
man,  he  lives  by  preference  here  in  a  Greek  convent. 
He  inveighed  in  no  measured  terms  against  the 
Sultan,  the  corrupt  officials,  and  the  Turks  in  gen 
eral.  That  is  not  unnatural,  for  he  is  an  Arab,  and 
the  Arabs  don't  like  the  Turks,  whom  they  con 
temn  as  a  low,  coarse  race.  He  particularly  object 
ed  to  polygamy.  He  wanted  a  reformed  Islam. 

104 


A  MEMOIR 

He  thought  the  Turks  had  no  business  in  Europe, 
that  it  was  inevitable  they  would  some  time  be 
forced  back  to  Asia,  and  that  the  sooner  they  went 
there  the  better.  The  result  was,  that,  though  he 
stayed  an  hour,  I  stifled  my  appetite  and  was  in 
terested  and  pleased." 

Shortly  after  this  Mr.  Schuyler  obtained  leave  of 
absence  and  spent  several  weeks  in  Paris  and  ten 
days  in  London,  where  he  enjoyed  some  of  the 
pleasanter  results  of  the  reputation  which  he  had 
acquired  by  his  work  in  Bulgaria.  Hitherto  the 
seamy  side  of  fame  had  been  turned  towards  him. 
His  brief  letters  give  some  idea  of  the  attention 
which  he  received. 

"  I  have  had  a  very  busy  time  of  it  since  I  have 
been  here.  I  went  last  night  to  the  House  of  Com 
mons  and  saw  Dilke,  Forster,  Mundella,  and  Grant 
Duff.  Finally  Mr.  Gladstone,  after  eying  me  a  long 
time,  came  up  and  presented  himself  and  asked  me 
to  breakfast.  ...  I  breakfasted  to-day  with  Sir 
Charles  Hartley,  breakfast  to-morrow  with  Smalley, 
and  dine  with  Burnaby1  at  the  Marlborough 
Club.  On  Monday  I  lunch  with  Mrs.  Bruce2 
from  whom  I  had  a  charming  note.  I  shall  not 
be  back  till  Tuesday,  the  loth,  as  I  have  promised 

1  Author  of  "  A  Ride  to  Khiva." 

2  Bed-chamberwoman  of  the  Queen,   and  a  well-known  personage   in 
English  and  Roman  society.     In  her  apartment  in  St.  James's  Palace 
was  the  room  in  which  Anne  Boleyn  spent  the  last  night  of  her  life. 

105 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

to    dine    with    Dilke    on    Monday — a    party    for 
me.    .    .    . 

"  Sunday. —  ...  I  have  just  time  before  din 
ner  to  write  a  line.  It  has  rained  all  day  till  now, 
but  I  have,  nevertheless,  breakfasted  with  the 
Smalleys,  lunched  at  the  Eustace  Smiths',  and 
called  on  several  people,  including  the  Milner- 
Gibsons. 

"  General  Grant  did  not  go  to  Mr.  Motley's  fu 
neral,  and  Mr.  Pierrepont  refused  to  go  because  Mr. 
Motley  had  not  called  on  him. 

"  Thursday. —  ...  I  am  getting  very  tired  of 
all  this  dissipation,  and  at  the  same  time  I  wish  I 
could  have  come  here  two  months  ago,  because 
then  I  could  have  taken  it  more  easily. 
After  leaving  some  cards,  I  went  to  the  Fourth  of 
July  reception  at  the  Pierreponts'.  Lots  of  Amer 
icans;  very  few  whom  I  knew.  I  dined  quietly 
with  Ashton  Dilke  and  wife.  Later  on  I  went  to 
the  Cosmopolitan  Club — a  peculiar  institution 
here — where  I  saw  Dilke,  Forster,  Spedding,  Lord 
Carnarvon,  Harcourt,  etc.,  etc.  The  Comte  de 
Paris  was  also  there,  but  I  did  not  make  his  ac 
quaintance. 

"  I  woke  up  this  morning  feeling  very  wretched, 
but  managed  to  crawl  out  of  bed  and  go  to  the 
Gladstones'  to  breakfast.  Both  Mr.  Gladstone  and 
his  wife  were  very  amiable.  I  sat  next  to  Mrs. 
Gladstone.  Among  the  guests  were  Goldwin  Smith, 
Palgrave,  Freeman,  the  Bishop  of  Bath  and  Wells, 
Lord  and  Lady  Frederick  Cavendish,  etc.,  etc. 

106 


A  MEMOIR 

To-morrow  night  I  go  to  an  evening  party  at  Buck 
ingham  Palace,  per  order. 

"  Saturday. —  ...  I  had  a  very  pleasant  din 
ner  with  Sala  last  night,  and  enjoyed  the  concert 
immensely.  Buckingham  Palace  is  prettier  than 
I  supposed,  and  the  concert-room  was  very  fine. 
The  Prince  of  Wales  spoke  to  me  very  cordially 
and  invited  me  to  come  and  see  him  on  Sunday, 
at  1.30.  The  Comte  de  Paris  and  wife  were  there, 
as  well  as  no  end  of  royalties,  but  not  the  Queen 
herself.  Invitations  continue  to  pour  on  me  from 
all  quarters.  I  almost  wish  we  were  coming  here 
for  a  while. 

"  Sunday. —  ...  I  have  had  a  day  of  it.  One 
friend  came  along  before  I  was  up,  then  I  had  to 
go  out  and  see  two  men  on  business,  and  be  at 
Maryborough  House  at  1.30.  The  Prince  was 
very  nice,  and  did  most  of  the  talking,  which  ran 
over  very  many  subjects.  He  congratulated  me 
on  my  marriage  and  inquired  who  you  were.  .  .  . 
He  kept  me  so  long  that  I  got  late  to  the  Gos- 
selins'  for  lunch,  and  found  it  all  eaten  up.  ... 
The  dinner  last  night  by  Gennadius1  was  very 
pleasant.  Among  the  guests  was  one  delightful 
old  fellow,  General  Gore-Browne,  who  had  been 
in  Greece  at  the  time  of  the  revolution.  I  for 
got  to  say  that  yesterday  afternoon  I  was  taken  to 
see  a  very  charming  old  lady,  the  dowager  Lady 
Stanley  of  Alderley.  She  looks  like  a  picture  and 
talks  like  a  book,  only  better. 

iThe  Greek  Charge-d' Affaires. 
107 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  If  I  can  get  up  early  enough  to  take  the  tidal 
train  on  Tuesday,  I  can  be  in  Paris  at  five 
o'clock.  .  .  ." 

On  July  12,  1877,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  married  in 
Paris  to  Miss  Gertrude  Wallace  King,  a  daughter  of 
the  late  Charles  King,  of  New  York,  president  of 
Columbia  College,  and  granddaughter  of  the  emi 
nent  Rufus  King. 


V 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schuyler  arrived  in  Constantinople 
towards  the  end  of  the  summer,  going  first  to  Buy- 
ukdere,  where  they  spent  the  rest  of  the  hot  weather. 
There,  when  consular  duties  were  over  for  the  day, 
they  took  long  walks — always  accompanied  by  a 
cavass  and  armed  with  pistols — to  "  Paradise  "  and 
the  Fountain  of  Roses,  and  down  along  the  Chest 
nut  Water.  Reading  aloud  was  a  favourite  amuse 
ment  in  "  German,  French,  English,  or  Italian;" 
but  the  authors  whom  they  chiefly  read  at  this 
time  were  Gibbon  and  Byron.  "  Byron,  especially 
read  on  the  Bosphorus,  where  you  understand  the 
allusions  and  appreciate  the  truth,  strikes  one  as 
very  great;  far  greater  and  simpler  than  I  ever 

imagined." 

108 


A  MEMOIR 

The  house  in  Pera,  to  which  they  went  later, 
could  not  fail  to  be  interesting  to  a  new-comer,  with 
its  consular  offices  below,  including  the  court-room 
where  the  Consul-General  dispensed  the  law,  even 
granting  divorces,  if  he  chose;  the  big  drawing- 
room  above,  of  which  one  end  was  masculine,  with 
book-shelves  and  a  large  writing-table,  and  the 
other  end  feminine,  with  bric-a-brac  and  a  fire 
place;  and  the  rooms  above  screened  off  with  glass 
and  making  a  little  apartment  by  themselves. 
Hitherto  a  man's  household  of  Montenegrin  ser 
vants  (who  were  so  devoted  in  their  attachment 
that  if  dismissed,  their  wounded  feelings  were  in 
danger  of  expressing  themselves  in  a  dagger 
thrust),  it  was  now  tempered  by  the  French  maid, 
whose  doubts  of  Montenegrin  tidiness  were  so 
deep-seated  that  she  went  down-stairs  and  scrubbed 
the  kitchen  once  a  week  herself. 

This  house  was  a  head-quarters  for  all  sorts  of  in 
teresting  people — the  more  so,  since  hospitality  was 
almost  a  passion  with  its  master.  His  wife  used 
to  say  that  getting  properly  settled  in  a  new  house 
was  a  minor  and  incidental  matter;  as  soon  as  the 
necessary  housekeeping  articles  were  at  hand,  they 
had  a  dinner  or  a  breakfast,  and  went  on  having 
breakfasts  and  dinners  from  that  moment. 

Here,  as  in  Russia,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  considered 
109 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

a  well-spring  of  authentic  information.  Everybody 
who  wanted  to  get  at  facts,  to  verify  surmises,  to 
learn  secrets,  applied  to  him,  from  diplomats  to 
newspaper  correspondents.  The  political  situation 
was,  of  course,  intensely  interesting.  On  Novem 
ber  Qth  he  wrote: 

"  The  situation  is  more  critical  here  than  it  has 
been  at  any  time,  and  yet  everybody  is  very  apa 
thetic.  It  is  believed  that  Erzeroum  is  taken,  and 
it  is  known  that  the  Russians  are  near  Trebizond. 
Plevna  is  thought  to  be  on  the  point  of  surrender 
ing,  and  the  Turkish  outlook  is  everywhere  black. 
We  think  ourselves  too  on  the  brink  of  a  domestic 
revolution.  Mahmoud  Pasha  has  a  fit  of  apoplexy 
(poison?),  and  will  scarcely  survive.  Orders  were 
given  to  poison  Murad,  and  his  servants  refusing, 
were  all  arrested  for  high  treason.  The  newspapers 
have  just  been  forbidden  to  publish  news  of  a  char 
acter  likely  to  excite  popular  feeling." 

Towards  the  end  of  January  affairs  looked  very 
threatening. 

"  By  the  time  you  get  this  letter  you  will  prob 
ably  know  what  has  happened  to  its  writer.  The 
Russians  occupied  Adrianople  on  Sunday;  they  will 
take  Gallipoli  to-day;  whether  they  will  come  to 
Constantinople,  a  day  or  two  will  decide.  The 
Circassians,  who  are  far  worse,  are  marching  along 

no 


A  MEMOIR 

the  coast  of  the  Black  Sea,  burning  and  pillaging 
as  they  go.  I  don't  really  think  we  shall  be  troub 
led  with  them,  but  I  fear  for  Buyukdere  and  Thera- 
pia.  I  think  their  plan  is  to  cross  from  there  into 
Asia.  So  you  see  we  are  surrounded  by  foes. 
The  Turks — I  may  now  say  '  poor  Turks ' — are 
almost  frightened  to  death,  especially  the  Sultan. 
It  is  a  great  break-up." 

In  fact,  the  Sultan  was  so  badly  frightened  that 
he  thought  of  running  away.  In  that  case  a  revo 
lution  would  probably  have  broken  out;  and  with 
the  feeling  which  prevailed  among  the  Turks,  there 
was  every  reason  to  fear  a  general  massacre  of  for 
eigners.  Each  of  the  Powers  represented  in  Con 
stantinople  had  two  warships  in  the  harbor,  but  in 
the  case  of  the  Schuylers  and  a  few  others  it  would 
have  been  useless  to  try  to  get  to  them.  Any  one 
attempting  it  would  have  been  cut  to  pieces.  A 
plan  was  therefore  arranged  by  which,  in  case  of  an 
outbreak,  these  persons,  after  sending  their  valua 
bles  to  the  ships,  were  to  collect  the  Christians  of 
the  neighborhood  and  take  refuge  in  the  Austrian 
and  French  Embassies,  which  stood  in  adjoining 
grounds,  and  were  there  to  stand  a  siege.  Mean 
time  the  function  of  the  Ambassadors  ceasing  with 
the  cessation  of  the  Government,  the  consuls  were 
to  come  forward,  invite  the  Russians  in,  and  hand 

in 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

over  the  keys  of  the  city  to  them.  In  view  of  these 
possibilities,  life  at  the  Consulate  was  sufficiently 
exciting.  However,  the  Sultan  decided  to  stay 
where  he  was,  and  by  the  end  of  January  there  was 
talk  of  an  armistice. 

"  February  i,  1878. —  .  .  .  The  general  belief 
is,  that  an  armistice  has  been  signed,  but  nobody 
really  knows  anything.  I  have  been  amused  with 

the  fear  of  the  Turcophiles.     G sent  away  his 

wife  oa  Wednesday,  and  Lady  T and  a  lot  of 

other  people  were  intending  to  go  to-day.  Per 
haps  they  feel  so  sure  of  peace  that  they  will  stay 
now. 

Baker  and  Burnaby  have  got  back,  having  ac 
companied  Suleiman  Pasha  in  his  retreat  to  Enos 
and  Gallipoli.  Baker  is  sad  and  quiet.  Burnaby 
is  full  of  spirits. 

At  present  the  Russians  are  at  Tcherlow,  about 
seventy  miles  from  here,  and  we  suppose  them  also 
to  be  near  Rodosto,  on  the  Sea  of  Marmora.  Yes 
terday  was  lovely,  and  Gargiulo,  James,  and  I  took 
a  long  walk  in  Stamboul,  amid  crowds  of  refugees 
and  Circassians.  We  went  into  several  mosques, 
which  are  quite  full  of  wretched  people.  The  dif 
ference  between  the  Mussulmans  over  there  and  the 
Greeks  and  Bulgarians  from  Burgas  who  fill  the 
churches  here  is  immense.  Here  they  are  bright 
and  intelligent  looking;  there,  the  reverse;  and  oh, 
how  dirty! 

112 


A  MEMOIR 

Diary,  1878. 

"  Wednesday,  February  6th. —  .  .  .  It  is  said 
the  Russians  have  advanced  and  taken  Silivria,  it 
is  supposed  by  accident.  Several  Russian  officers 
are  to  arrive  to-day  or  to-morrow  at  Hotel  Royal; 
it  is  thought  to  arrange  details  of  neutral  zone. 

"  Thursday,  February  fth. — I  was  startled  this 
morning  by  receiving  a  package  which  turned  out 
to  be  from  MacGahan,  containing  letters  from  him 
self  and  Greene,  our  Military  Agent  with  the  Rus 
sians.  MacGahan  says  he  will  be  here  in  a  few  days. 
He  wrote  from  Haden-Keui,  the  head-quarters  of 
Ahmed  Mukhtar  Pasha,  where  he  had  gone  with  a 
flag  of  truce  with  Count  Keller,  to  see  why  the 
Turks  did  not  evacuate  their  position.  By  the 
armistice  the  Turkish  line  of  fortifications  was  to  be 
evacuated  and  placed  in  the  neutral  zone.  The 
Turkish  lines  run  from  Tchekmedje  to  Derkos,  close 
to  the  fortifications.  The  Turks  were  to  have  evac 
uated  their  positions  by  February  6th,  but  last  night 
Ahmed  Mukhtar  had  not  received  from  the  Porte 
any  instructions  and  did  not  know  the  actual  terms 
of  the  armistice.  He  asked  for  three  days  more  to 
remove  heavy  guns  and  stores.  The  mud  is  fearful. 

"  Skobelef's  head-quarters  are  at  Tchaldja.  The 
Grand  Duke's  will  probably  be  at  Rodosto,  and 
Gourko's  at  Silivria.  .  .  .  Chambers  is  going 
to-morrow  to  join  Greene  in  Russian  lines.  Wrote 
by  him  to  MacGahan,  and  will  try  to  have  des 
patch  go  for  him  to  Rodosto.  .  .  . 
VOL.  i.— 8  113 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  Saturday,  February  pth.—  .  .  .  Gargiulo 
tells  me  that  Turkish  Parliament  have  refused  to 
recognize  Ahmed  Vefyk  as  First  Minister,  on  ac 
count  of  the  unconstitutionality  of  his  appoint 
ment.  Yussuf  Zia  (Jerusalem)  made  a  violent 
and  telling  speech.  General  Mott  says  Yussuf  Zia 
made  a  very  forcible  speech  Wednesday  against 
the  Council  of  State,  on  account  of  the  Jaffa 
railway. 

"  Sunday,  February  loth. —  .  .  .  The  Levant 
Herald  issues  a  supplement,  to  say  the  English 
fleet  had  orders  to  pass  the  Dardanelles  and  come 
to  Constantinople  to-day.  Morloy  met  me  in  the 
street,  told  me  the  order  was  countermanded,  and 
that  the  fleet  had  returned  from  the  Dardanelles. 
It  is  supposed  that  the  Ministry  went  crazy  on 
finding  that  the  Turkish  fortifications  here  were  to 
be  evacuated  by  the  Turks  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  the  armistice. 

"  Captain  Touchard,  of  the  French  Latouche-Tre- 
ville,  told  me  to-night  that  Layard  had  a  conversa 
tion  with  Mouy,  the  French  Charge-d' Affaires, 
about  the  fleet,  and  said  that  his  Government  tele 
graphed  him  that  the  French  fleet  would  enter  with 
the  English.  Mouy  said  he  thought  not;  that  he 
had  telegraphed  the  real  state  of  things  to  his  Gov 
ernment,  and  that'  there  was  no  necessity  for  such 
action.  Both  Mouy  and  Count  Corti,  the  Italian 
Minister,  telegraphed  to  their  respective  Govern 
ments  that  in  the  present  circumstances  it  was  bet 
ter  not  to  ask  for  a  firman. 

114 


A  MEMOIR 

"  The  Phare  de  Bosphore  has  been  publishing  some 
very  bitter  articles  on  the  supposed  delimitation  of 
Bulgaria,  taking  an  ultra  Greek  view  of  Greek  rights 
in  Thrace  and  Macedonia. 

"  Monday,  February  nth. — In  the  afternoon  Cap 
tain  Higginson  called  here  officially  with  Captain 
Haxtun.  Then  went  with  Galloway  to  see  St. 
Sophia.  About  two  thousand  refugees  there,  look 
ing,  for  the  most  part,  tolerably  comfortable. 

''  Tuesday,  February  I2th. — Placards  were  posted 
this  morning  on  the  British  Embassay  and  in  the 
surrounding  streets :  '  Perdue — entre  la  Bale  de  Bes~ 
ika  et  Constantinople — une  flotte.  Recompense  hon- 
nete  a  ceux  qui  pourront  fournir  quelques  renseigne- 
ments.'  Other  placards  said:  'Apply  to  Mr.  Lay- 
ard.'  It  is  understood  here  that  the  English  Min 
istry  ordered  the  fleet  here,  but  that  when  Mr. 
Layard  applied  for  a  firman  the  Porte  refused  it,  on 
the  ground  of  complications,  it  being  thought  that 
the  Russians  would  at  once  occupy  Constantinople. 
Layard  then  telegraphed  to  Admiral  Hornby  to 
wait  for  further  orders. 

"  Safvet  Pasha  has  started  for  Adrianople  to  take 
part  in  the  peace  negotiations. 

"  In  the  afternoon  I  went  with  the  Higginsons  to 
make  their  official  calls,  and  in  the  evening  to  tea 
at  the  Maynards'.  Just  before  I  started,  MacGahan 
suddenly  came  in,  having  returned  with  General 
Chambers.1  He  says  Russians  all  ready  to  come 

1  United  States  military  attache  with  the  Turks. 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

to  Constantinople,  and  will  come  if  the  British  fleet 
comes.  They  have  orders  to  attack  any  British 
troops  without  asking  any  questions. 

"  The  fiasco  of  the  British  fleet  is  the  general  sub 
ject  of  laughter  everywhere. 

"  Owing  to  the  raising  of  the  blockade,  many 
ships  have  already  sailed  for  the  Black  Sea. 

"  Wednesday,  February  i^th. — MacGahan  came 
in  and  then  Pears,  and  both  breakfasted  here.  Mac 
Gahan  brought  me  last  night  a  very  pleasant  letter 
from  Tseretelef,  with  an  invitation  to  come  to 
Adrianople.  Onore,  the  first  Russian  Dragoman, 
came  here  to-day  on  some  special  business  from 
Adrianople. 

"  According  both  to  MacGahan  and  Chambers, 
who  quotes  Greene,  the  capture  of  the  Shipka  pass 
was  a  fluke,  and  owing  entirely  to  Skobelef  s  diplo 
macy,  after  both  Mirsky  and  Radetsky  had  been 
beaten  in  detail.  MacGahan  was  full  of  interesting 
accounts  of  events  and  people.  He  has  suffered 
much  in  the  campaign,  and  is  very  lame  with  rheu 
matism.  Levant  Herald  had  a  rumour  that  the 
English  fleet  has  passed  the  Dardanelles. 

"  Went  to  the  German  Embassy  in  the  evening,  to 
be  presented  to  the  Grand  Duchess  of  Saxe-Weimar. 
Confirmed  that  English  fleet  has  passed. 

"  Thursday,  February  iqth. — I  had  a  telegram 
from  the  Dardanelles,  from  Consular  Agent  Calvert, 
about  2  A.M.,  telling  me  that  English  fleet  passed 
Dardanelles  at  4.15  P.M.  of  Wednesday.  .  .  . 
Nothing  yet  seen  of  English  fleet,  which,  it  is  said, 

116 


A  MEMOIR 

will  anchor  off  Prinkipo.  Reported  one  of  the 
ships  aground. 

"  Thursday,  February  2 ist .— •  .  .  .  In  the  even 
ing  lectured  for  the  British  Mechanics'  and  Liter 
ary  Association  on  the  superstitions  connected 
with  the  days  of  the  week.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  said  that  there  are  now  three  English  ships 
at  Gallipoli  and  three  in  the  Gulf  of  Saros.  It  is  re 
ported  that  the  Russian  demands  in  detail  are  so 
great  that  Safvet  Pasha  has  refused  to  sign  the 
treaty. 

"  Friday,  February  22d. —  .  .  .  There  are 
many  rumours  to-day  about  the  Russians  and  the 
English  fleet,  but  nothing  definite  is  known.  The 
Turkish  fleet  left  yesterday,  it  is  said,  for  Crete. 
Azarian,1  who  has  frequently  very  correct  infor 
mation,  said  that  he  talked  with  Namyk  Pasha, 
who  was  very  despondent,  and  feared  the  whole 
thing  was  up,  and  with  Ahmed  Tefik  Pasha,  who 
said  that  the  armistice  would  be  over  by  the  end 
of  the  week,  and  that  then  they  could  attend  to 
their  ordinary  affairs.  What  it  meant  he  did  not 
quite  know. 

"  Saturday,  February  2$d. — We  had  intended  go 
ing  up  the  Bosphorus,  but  the  boiler  of  the  De 
spatch  gave  out,  so  I  sent  Greene  up  with  James 
Maynard.  Greene  and  I  breakfasted  on  the  De 
spatch  and  afterwards  called  on  Mrs.  Maynard  and 
walked.  In  the  evening  went  to  the  Maynards', 
where  Greene  and  some  others  were  dining,  and 

1  The  Armenian  Metropolitan. 
117 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

then  to  the  Austrian  Embassy.  The  Ambassadors 
all  say  that  there  was  a  great  crisis,  which  has  fortu 
nately  passed,  and  that  war  has  been  averted.  It 
is  generally  understood  that  a  Russian  force,  to 
gether  with  General  Ignatief  and  the  plenipoten 
tiaries,  will  occupy  San  Stefano,  and  that  the  treaty 
will  be  signed  there.  On  dit  that  without  question 
Bulgaria  will  have  a  port  on  the  y£gean. 

"  Sunday,  February  24th. — While  still  in  bed  I  had 
a  card  from  Millet,  an  American  artist,  now  corre 
sponding  for  the  Daily  News.  Hastily  dressing,  I 
went  down  to  him  and  found  a  very  sympathetic 
fellow.  He  arrived  at  San  Stefano  at  2.30  A.M.  with 
the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  Gourko,  Ignatief,  and 
the  whole  lot.  The  war  is  apparently  over.  La 
Turquie  publishes  a  supplement  with  Bismarck's 
speech,  which  is  extremely  sensible,  and  very  differ 
ent  from  the  first  report. 

"  According  to  what  I  am  told  to-day,  the  Rus 
sians  must  have  had  a  very  good  spy  system  here,  for 
they  occasionally  recall  to  people  the  places  and 
dates  when  they  have  said  certain  things  here. 
Some  believe  that  peace  will  be  signed  to-morrow. 

"  Monday,  February  2$th,  1878.—  ...  Millet, 
a  young  American  artist,  who  has  been  through 
the  war  as  a  newspaper  correspondent  on  the 
Russian  side,  came  to  see  me  yesterday,  and  told 
me  that  he  had  just  come  in  from  San  Stefano, 
which  the  Russians  occupied  early  in  the  morning. 
As  Greene  wanted  to  get  back  to  his  post,  I 
agreed  to  take  him  down  in  a  tug,  together  with 

118 


A  MEMOIR 

C.  K.  Tuckerman,  lately  our  minister  at  Athens. 
There  was  some  trouble  about  the  luggage  and 
horses,  causing  delay,  so  that  we  only  reached  San 
Stefano  at  half  past  twelve.  The  first  man  I  met 
was  Radonitch,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  of 
Montenegro,  who  had  been  here  last  year  during 
the  Conference,  and  had  dined  with  me.  He 
seemed  delighted  to  see  an  old  acquaintance.  I 
then  called  on  Prince  Tseretelef,  who  is  living 
with  General  Ignatief  and  the  rest  at  Schneider's 
house — a  fine  house  with  large  garden  right  on 
the  shore.  We  had  picked  up  MacGahan  in  a 
sail-boat  when  half  way  to  San  Stefano,  and  he  and 
I  breakfasted  with  Tseretelef,  Basili,  Stebatchef, 
and  one  or  two  Russian  Secretaries.  No  one  is  yet 
settled,  and  there  is  not  much  to  eat.  We  had 
bread  and  a  pate,  some  beer  that  I  had  brought, 
and  an  egg-nogg  made  with  condensed  milk. 
After  breakfast  I  saw  General  Ignatief  for  a 
minute.  .  .  .  We  then  walked  out  on  the 
quay:  the  day  was  lovely,  and  all  was  anima 
tion,  the  bands  playing,  and  every  one — many 
in  new  uniforms — enjoying  the  sun  and  the 
sea.  The  inhabitants,  too,  enjoyed  it.  I  saw  many 
faces  I  knew,  but,  except  Benkendorp  and  the 
Grand  Dukes,  could  not  place  them.  I  was  intro 
duced  to  Prince  Eugene  Leuchtenberg,  who  was 
very  amiable,  and  introduced  me  to  General  Sko- 
belef,  the  father  of  the  celebrated  one.  Leuchten 
berg  said  he  wanted  to  go  to  Prinkipo  to  see  the 
Duke  of  Edinburgh.  ...  By  the  way,  people 

119 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

say  that  opinions  are  so  divided  on  the  *  Sultan/ 
H.M.N.,  that  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh  had  to  put 
up  a  sign,  '  Please  remember  that  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  is  my  father-in-law.'  I  saw  also  Prince 
Alexander  Battenberg,  son  of  Prince  Alexander  of 
Hesse,  brother  of  the  Empress  of  Russia,  who  is 
expected  to  be  Prince  of  Bulgaria  when  that  State 
is  created,  a  handsome,  agreeable  young  fellow  who 
has  accompanied  the  army  during  the  campaign.  I 
met,  too,  many  old  acquaintances,  including  Colo 
nel  Gaillard,  the  French  Military  Attache,  whom  I 
had  known  at  St.  Petersburg.  Brunswick  was 
there  to  see  Ignatief,  though  he  had  only  just  re 
turned  from  Paris.  He  and  several  people  wanted 
to  return  with  us,  but  finally  we  brought  no  one 
except  the  two  Austrian  Military  Attaches.  We 
made  very  good  time  returning,  leaving  at  5.15  and 
reaching  Galata  at  6.45.  On  coming  home,  I  found 
a  telegram  that  General  Grant  will  be  here  on  Fri 
day. 

"  Wednesday,  February  2?th. — I  expected  to  go 
to-night  on  the  Despatch  to  the  Dardanelles  to 
meet  General  Grant,  but  after  the  sailing  had  been 
put  off  from  five  to  seven,  we  got  on  board  only 
to  find  that  the  boiler  had  totally  given  out  and  was 
worse  than  ever.  We  (General  Chambers,  James 
Maynard,  and  Feridoun  Bey,  the  Turkish  Court 
official)  dined  on  board  and  came  away. 

"  February  28th. — It  was  finally  decided  that  Gen 
eral  Chambers,  James  Maynard,  and  myself  should 
go  down  on  a  tug  and  meet  General  Grant.  We 

120 


A  MEMOIR 

started  at  five  and  towards  seven  reached  San  Ste- 
fano,  where  we  found  Greene.  We  went  into  Le 
Bon's  restaurant  while  Greene  ate  his  dinner,  where 
we  met  MacGahan  and  a  number  of  Russian  offi 
cers,  many  of  whom  I  had  known  before.  .  .  . 
Afterwards  I  went  with  MacGahan  to  the  Schneider 
house  to  see  Tseretelef.  General  Ignatief  found 
us  waiting,  came  in  and  talked  for  nearly  half  an 
hour.  He  said  that  the  propositions  of  peace  as 
published  in  the  Levant  Herald  were  all  nonsense. 
The  Turks  were  very  slow  and  dilatory;  he  must 
give  them  a  little  time  or  Europe  would  cry  out 
that  he  did  not  allow  them  to  deliberate.  Saadoul- 
lah  was  all  the  time  talking  about  his  commission 
in  Bulgaria  and  the  trouble  he  had  with  Baring. 
Ignatief  said :  '  Are  you  not  ashamed  ever  to  men 
tion  that  you  were  on  such  a  commission?  '  Safvet 
Pasha  never  could  remember  anything  about  the 
Conference,  and  always  seemed  to  forget  that  Igna 
tief  had  been  present  at  it.  Ignatief,  however, 
hoped  to  get  an  answer  to  some  points  next  day. 
The  Turks  would  never  consider  one  point  at  a 
time,  but  were  all  the  time  skipping  from  Serbia  to 
Bulgaria,  and  from  Montenegro  to  Armenia;  were 
constantly  discussing  the  boundaries  of  Bulgaria 
and  mentioning  isolated  points  within  them,  such 
as  Rasgrad,  where  the  population  was  mostly  or 
wholly  Turkish. 

"  After  he  went  away,  we  took  tea  with  Tseretelef 
and  Stchertatchef,  and  had  a  long  talk  and  many 
stories  about  the  war  and  old  scenes. 

1*1 

|  ut«v^ 

V      rAM?0^ 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  Afterwards  went  to  Greene's  room,  where  we 
talked  about  West  Point,  etc.,  till  after  twelve, 
when  we  went  on  board  the  tug  with  no  difficulty, 
for  the  Russian  sentries  had  been  withdrawn  during 
the  night. 

"  March  ist. — We  passed  rather  an  unsettled 
night,  sleeping  partly  below  and  partly  on  deck.  We 
stood  out  to  sea  all  night,  so  as  to  be  on  the  course 
of  any  vessel.  A  little  after  daylight  we  saw  the 
Vandalia  and  finally  went  on  board.  General  Grant 
was  very  strong  in  conversation  on  the  Silver  Bill; 
said  that  if  he  were  President  he  would  not  only 
veto  it,  but  that  if  Congress  passed  it  over  his  veto, 
he  would  use  every  means  to  hinder  its  execution 
until  the  Supreme  Court  had  passed  on  it,  and  would 
advise  all  bankers  and  others  to  have  dealings  only 
in  gold.  Much  as  he  should  hate  to  vote  for  a 
Democrat  for  President,  he  would  rather  vote  for  a 
Democrat  sound  on  financial  questions  than  for  an 
unsound  Republican.  He  was  anxious  to  know 
about  recent  events,  and  was  interested  to  hear  all 
that  I  could  tell  him  from  my  visit  to  San  Stefano 
the  night  before.  In  spite  of  everything  that  he 
had  said  and  done  at  the  places  where  he  had  previ 
ously  made  visits,  it  was  evident  that  the  military 
spirit  had  come  upon  him  very  strongly,  as  he  ex 
pressed  a  great  desire  to  see  the  Russian  Army,  and 
wanted  to  know  if  it  would  not  be  possible  for  him 
to  get  horses  and  ride  out  that  day  to  San  Stefano 
and  back.  I  endeavoured  to  dissuade  him  by  ex 
plaining  the  difficulty  of  the  communications,  and 

122 


A  MEMOIR 

that  he  could  scarcely  visit  the  Russian  camp  except 
under  the  convoy  of  Greene,  who  had  remained 
there,  and  to  whom  I  could  not  easily  get  word  so 
quickly.  I  suggested  that  it  would  be  better  to  go 
down  in  the  Vandalia,  perhaps,  when  he  went  away 
after  his  visit  to  Constantinople  was  over.  I  told 
him  how  Greene  had  ridden  in  from  the  Russian 
lines,  forgetting  that,  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  the 
campaign,  he  was  almost  in  Russian  uniform,  wear 
ing  Russian  decorations  given  to  him  for  his 
bravery,  and  how  he  had  not  been  challenged  by 
the  Turkish  sentries  till  he  had  entered  the  streets 
of  Constantinople,  when,  for  the  first  time,  he 
thought  what  a  fool-hardy  act  he  had  committed. 
His  ride  in,  however,  had  given  him  great  prestige. 
We  reached  Tophane  about  nine  o'clock.  .  .  . 
Lieutenant  Miller,  Jesse  Grant,  and  John  Russell 
Young,  who  was  acting  as  General  Grant's  private 
secretary,  dined  with  us,  together  with  Greene, 
who  had  just  returned.  Several  others  came  in 
the  evening,  including  Austin  (the  Times  corre 
spondent),  Millet,  and  MacGahan.  Greene  had 
arranged  that  if  General  Grant  chose  to  visit  the 
Russian  head-quarters  he  would  be  invited  to 
breakfast  with  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  and  that 
a  review  would  be  held  in  his  honour. 

"  March  2d. — General  Grant  had  proposed  going 
up  the  Bosphorus,  but  the  weather  was  too  bad.  I 
called  there  and  stayed  to  breakfast.  Grant  is  very 
strong  in  his  ideas  against  the  Turks  and  what 
ought  to  be  done  with  Turkey.  It  is  plain  he  is 

123 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

learning  a  great  deal  during  his  journey.  The 
Grant  family  and  some  others  dined  at  the  Lega 
tion.  We  went  there  in  the  evening  for  a  little 
while.  It  was  not  very  amusing. 

"  March  $d. — General  Grant  dined  with  us  to-day. 
As  it  is  impossible  in  my  position  to  invite  Ambas 
sadors  to  dinner,  and  as  I  could  not  in  any  case 
ask  them  to  yield  their  place  at  table  to  General 
Grant,  we  had  only  a  small  party — Mr.  Maynard, 
the  Minister,  and  his  daughter,  Captain  Robeson, 
of  the  Vandalia,  and  Captain  Higginson,  of  the  De 
spatch,  with  his  wife.  A  very  good  dinner,  and 
Grant  was  unusually  talkative.  Mrs.  Grant  had  a 
headache  and  did  not  come.  Being  our  usual  re 
ception  evening,  a  lot  of  people  came,  including  the 
Italian,  Dutch,  and  Swedish  Ministers  and  other 
diplomats — about  thirty  in  all.  Prince  Reuss,  the 
German  Ambassador,  sent  word  by  Count  Rado- 
linsky  regretting  that  he  was  kept  home  by  illness. 
Everybody  seemed  to  enjoy  themselves,  and  General 
Grant  more  than  all.  When  tea  was  announced, 
he  proposed  to  go;  but  on  my  telling  him  that 
whiskey  toddy  and  cigars  were  always  provided  in 
the  dining-room,  he  consented  to  stay  for  a  few 
minutes.  Nevertheless,  after  he  had  cooled  his 
glass  of  toddy  with  a  little  more  whiskey,  he  sat 
down  on  a  sofa  with  the  wife  of  the  Swedish  Minis 
ter  next  to  him  till  nearly  one  o'clock.  He  made 
himself  so  very  entertaining  that  he  was  the  middle 
of  a  large  circle.  Count  Corti,  the  Italian  Minister, 
had  known  the  General  in  Washington,  and  came 

124 


A  MEMOIR 

expressly  to  tell  us  that  he  had  just  had  a  despatch 
from  General  Ignatief,  saying  that  peace  had  been 
signed  at  San  Stefano  that  afternoon  a  little  before 
five  o'clock." 

This  was  the  first  public  announcement  of  the 
peace,  and  it  turned  out  afterwards  that  the  English 
Embassy  did  not  hear  of  it  till  next  morning. 

"  March  4th. — The  Maynards  had  a  reception  for 
General  Grant,  to  which  they  had  bidden  all  the 
Diplomatic  Corps,  no  end  of  Turkish  officials,  and 
every  one  they  knew.  It  passed  off  very  well  and 
was  thoroughly  a  rAmericaine.  After  that,  Gen 
eral  and  Mrs.  Grant  came  to  our  house  to  rest  and 
dress  before  going  to  dine  at  the  British  Embassy. 
They  had  three  or  four  rooms  devoted  to  their  ex 
clusive  use,  and  the  General  was  left  alone  in  my 
study  with  his  cigars  and  the  last  American  news 
papers.  He  rriade  his  appearance,  however,  long 
before  it  was  time  to  go  out;  and  while  waiting  for 
Mrs.  Grant,  stood  with  his  back  to  the  fire  and  told 
us  what  he  would  have  done  had  he  been  the  Rus 
sian  Commander-in-Chief.  Millet  and  MacGahan 
were  present,  as  they  were  going  to  dine  with  us, 
together  with  Greene.  They  told  us  all  about  the 
signature  of  peace  and  about  the  review  afterwards. 
Among  other  things,  the  General  said :  '  Had  I 
been  in  the  position  of  the  Grand  Duke  Nicho 
las,  I  should  have  refused  to  make  peace  ex 
cept  at  Constantinople.  The  occupation  of  Con- 

125 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

stantinople — for  the  English  fleet  could  not  have 
prevented  it — would  have  been  an  accomplished 
fact,  which  the  European  Powers  would  have  had 
to  treat  as  they  best  could.  I  should  have  insisted 
on  one  condition — that  Turkish  rule  in  Europe  had 
for  ever  come  to  an  end ;  and  should  have  expressed 
my  willingness  to  leave  the  details  of  the  settlement 
to  the  European  Powers  on  this  one  condition; 
provided,  also,  that  all  rights  of  private  property, 
whether  Mussulman  or  Christian,  should  be  re 
spected,  and  a  fair  sum  be  paid  to  the  Turks  for 
the  Government  property.' 

"  He  then  went  into  many  details  as  to  how  this 
settlement  could  be  made,  but  I  remember  only  the 
general  drift  of  what  he  said.  After  dinner  we 
went  to  the  reception  given  to  General  Grant  at  the 
British  Embassy,  and  found  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Layard 
unusually  amiable  and  all  Constantinople  present. 
Unfortunately,  Mrs.  Grant  was  tired  and  the  Gen 
eral  went  away  early,  before  many  people  had  time 
to  see  him. 

"  March  $th. — Early  this  morning  Tseretelef  tele 
graphed  that  he  would  come  and  breakfast  with  me. 
He  made  himself  very  agreeable  and  amusing,  and 
was  delighted  to  be  once  more  in  Pera.  General 
and  Countess  Ignatief  breakfasted  with  the  Greek 
Minister.  Tseretelef  told  us  that  everything  was 
prepared  for  a  fine  reception  of  General  Grant  at 
San  Stefano  to-morrow,  with  a  breakfast  and  parade. 
Some  of  the  rest  of  us  are  to  go  down  on  the  Van- 
dalia  or  Despatch,  and  will  be  met  and  shown  about 

126 


A  MEMOIR 

the  town  and  given  places  at  the  review.  The 
Vandalia  with  the  Grant  party  will  then  go  on, 
while  we  return  to  Constantinople. 

"  At  6.30  the  Grant  party  and  all  the  Legation 
dined  at  the  Seraskierat,  with  most  of  the  Turkish 
Ministers,  the  Military  Attaches,  and  some  others. 
The  dinner  was  given  in  the  Sultan's  name  (as  on 
account  of  the  disaster  he  does  not  wish  to  appear 
in  public).  It  was  an  excellent  one  in  French  style. 
I  sat  between  Mehemmed  AH  Pasha  and  Assym 
Pasha,  President  of  the  Council  and  acting  Minis 
ter  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  amused  myself  very  well. 
Both  were  polite  and  agreeable.  Grant  saw  the 
Sultan  informally  to-day  and  the  Sultan's  stables. 
The  Sultan  wished  to  give  him  a  fine  Arabian  horse, 
but  he  refused. 

"  After  dinner  the  General  told  me  that  he  had 
suddenly  decided  not  to  go  to  San  Stefano  to-mor 
row  to  see  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas.  I  repeated 
what  Tseretelef  had  told  me  of  the  preparations 
made  for  him;  but  he  said  that  our  Minister  was  so 
positive  that  this  would  be  considered  impolite  to 
the  Turks  and  would  injure  his  position  as  American 
representative  that  he  begged  him  not  to  go.  I 
represented  to  him  that  since  the  armistice,  and  es 
pecially  since  the  conclusion  of  peace,  there  had 
been  frequent  communications  between  the  two 
sides;  that  General  Ignatief  had  breakfasted  in  Pera 
to-day  with  the  Greek  Minister;  that  various  diplo 
mats  had  been  to  San  Stefano,  and  that  arrange 
ments  were  on  foot  for  a  formal  visit  of  the  Grand 

127 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

Duke  Nicholas  to  the  Sultan.  At  the  same  time  I 
admitted  that  the  Minister  was  the  only  person  to 
decide  what  might  affect  our  relations  with  Turkey, 
though,  considering  the  length  to  which  matters 
had  gone,  I  feared  the  effect  upon  the  Russians. 
Much  as  I  dislike  the  result,  I  cannot  but  admire 
Grant's  patience  and  loyalty  in  submitting  to  the 
advice  of  the  Minister,  especially  as  he  says  it  was 
against  all  his  wishes  and  inclinations.  Poor  Greene 
has  had  to  ride  post  haste  to  San  Stefano,  in  order 
to  make  what  apologies  and  explanations  he  can. 
What  annoys  and  amuses  me  particularly  in  this 
affair  is  that  some  of  the  suite  who  were  disposed 
to  be  severe  with  me  because  I  dissuaded  the  Gen 
eral  from  riding  to  San  Stefano  on  the  first  day  of 
his  arrival,  now  wonder  that  such  an  idea  could  ever 
have  been  considered,  and  blame  me  as  if  I  had  sug 
gested  it. 

"  March  6th. — The  Vandalia,  with  the  Grant  par 
ty,  after  various  delays,  got  off  to-day  for  Athens. 

"  March  fth. — Just  as  I  was  finishing  breakfast 
there  came  a  little  note  from  Greene,  asking  me  to 
go  to  breakfast  at  Le  Bon's  to  meet  Skobelef.  I 
went  at  once.  General  Skobelef  professed  to  be 
very  anxious  to  meet  me,  as  we  both  knew  so  much 
about  each  other.  He  complimented  me  on  my 
'  Turkistan/  and  said  that  many  of  the  persons  I 
had  spoken  of  were  being  accused  and  brought  to 
trial.  General  Kaufmann  was  making  a  regular 
clearing  out.  We  pitied  General  Golovatchef,  who 
had  been  turned  out  of  the  army,  and  was  even  re- 

128 


A  MEMOIR 

fused  a  brigade  in  this  war.  We  both  thought  him 
personally  innocent,  though  he  was  always  sur 
rounded  by  swindlers  and  blacklegs. 

"  Skobelef  dined  with  us,  together  with  Helbert, 
MacGahan,  Millet,  Greene,  and  Chambers.  He 
made  himself  very  entertaining,  especially  in  his 
discussions  of  the  war  and  of  military  operations. 
He  is  evidently  a  genius  and  a  very  sympathetic 
one. 

"  Among  other  things,  we  spoke  of  Kashgar.  He 
said  that  much  as  the  Russians  hated  to  see  a  strong 
Mussulman  nation  erected  in  Kashgar  by  the  Eng 
lish,  they  would  have  kept  still  had  the  English  been 
in  earnest.  The  moment  they  saw  the  English 
waver  in  their  policy  they  took  advantage  of  it,  and 
egged  on  the  Chinese — even  supplying  them  with 
money  and  arms.  Kaufmann  wrote  to  him  the 
other  day  that  much  as  he  disliked  the  Chinese  as 
neighbours,  he  yet  liked  them  better  than  the  Eng 
lish. 

"  His  appearance  was  very  amusing.  A  Euro 
pean  officer  who  lives  in  his  uniform  always  looks 
odd  in  civilian  dress.  Skobelef  had  ridden  to  town 
in  uniform,  and  had  been  obliged  to  send  to  a  Jew 
slop-shop  to  get  some  ready-made  clothes,  and  they 
did  not  at  all  fit  him. 

"  March  loth. — In  accordance  with  a  telegram  I 
had  yesterday  from  Tseretelef,  I  went  to  the  Rus 
sian  war  steamer  Vladimir  to  see  General  and 
Countess  Ignatief.  I  found  the  whole  Russian  Em 
bassy.  General  Ignatief  takes  the  treaty  signed  by 
VOL.  I.— 9  129 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

the  Sultan,  together  with  Reouf  Pasha,  the  Minister 
of  War,  as  special  Ambassador.  Tseretelef  and 
Stcherbatchef  accompany  him.  The  Countess  Ig- 
natief  was  very  amiable,  but  abused  me  like  a  pick 
pocket  because  I  had  not  been  to  see  her  and  be 
cause  Mr.  Maynard  had  not  let  Grant  go  to  San 
Stefano.  The  General  told  me  that  Zichy,  who  had 
been  aboard,  had  begged  him  not  let  Bulgaria  come 
down  to  salt  water;  that  if  it  did,  England  and 
France  would  intrigue,  etc.,  etc.  Ignatief  told  him 
that  this  was  a  proof  of  Russia's  sincerity,  for  if 
she  had  wished  to  keep  Bulgaria  all  to  herself, 
she  would  have  been  very  careful  not  to  give  it  a 
port.  .  .  ." 


"  My  previsions  were  correct.  Greene  had  very 
hard  work  to  explain  why  General  Grant  had  not 
come  to  see  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholas,  and  when 
the  General  went  to  St.  Petersburg  later  he  was 
given  a  very  cold  shoulder.  Years  before  there  had 
been  a  little  ill-feeling  against  General  Grant,  on  ac 
count  of  the  Catacazy  affair,  and  it  had  been  very 
difficult  to  procure  a  proper  reception  for  General 
Sherman,  because  he  was  accompanied  by  one  of 
the  President's  sons  as  aide-de-camp.") 


A  MEMOIR 

VI 

It  was  quite  natural  that  the  Turks  should  object 
to  the  presence  of  a  man  who  had  done  so  much 
to  expose  their  barbarities.  However,  they  never 
dared  say  a  word  about  the  Bulgarian  business,  but 
complained  that  Mr.  Schuyler  had  too  vigorously 
supported  his  Government's  view  of  its  treaty  rights 
in  Turkey.  To  relieve  the  situation,  he  was  given 
leave  of  absence  and  returned  to  America  in  the 
spring  of  1878,  where  he  spent  the  summer.  In  the 
autumn  he  was  transferred  to  the  consulship  at  Bir 
mingham — a  curious  appointment  for  a  man  whose 
specialty  was  the  Eastern  Question.  He  accepted  it 
as  a  stop-gap,  which,  in  fact,  it  was,  as  he  was  made 
Consul-General  at  Rome  in  the  summer  of  1879. 

Life  in  Birmingham  was  not  in  itself  interesting, 
but  wherever  he  might  be  he  made  life  interesting. 
From  his  house  at  Edgebaston,  the  most  attractive 
of  the  suburbs,  he  took  long  walks  over  the  country, 
and  longer  excursions  by  train.  Naturally,  he  and 
his  wife  met  all  the  people  of  note  in  the  neighbour 
hood,  and  in  his  letters  he  speaks  of  Mr.  Chamber 
lain,  of  Mr.  Samuel  Timmins,  the  Shakespearian 
scholar,  of  the  antiquarian,  Mr.  Bragge,  and  of  many 
others. 

Housekeeping  in  Birmingham  was  unexpectedly 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

difficult,  the  British  cook  objecting  to  the  French 
maid's  irreligious  habit  of  sewing  on  Sunday,  and 
giving  notice  in  consequence;  while  the  latter  took 
England  so  hard  as  to  bring  on  a  crise  des  nerfs, 
which  was  made  the  occasion  for  a  delightful  trip 
to  Bath,  "  partly  for  ourselves,  but  chiefly  for  the 
maid,  who  over-exerted  herself  until  the  other  night 
she  went  half  crazy." 

Then  the  confectioner  would  not  supply  sweets  on 
Sunday,  the  cook  had  a  heavy  hand,  guests  were 
expected,  the  mistress  was  a  good  mistress,  but  no 
cook,  so  the  master  of  the  house,  collecting  a  hete 
rogeneous  array  of  fruits  and  liqueurs  and  a  bottle 
of  champagne,  invented  a  dish  which  was  a  standby 
of  the  family  for  ever  after.  The  garden  was  looked 
upon  hopefully  at  first,  but  as  everything  came  up 
rhubarb,  no  matter  what  was  planted,  it  did  not 
prove  the  source  of  pleasure  that  was  expected. 

All  this  time  he  was  not  forgotten  in  Bulgaria. 
At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Bulgarian  National  As 
sembly,  on  April  4th,  1879,  three  telegrams  were 
sent,  one  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  one  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  and  one  to  Mr.  Schuyler.  His  diary 
contains  the  following  entry: 

"  Sunday,   April   6th. — Palm    Sunday. 
Went  to  the  office  and  found  a  letter  from  Lord  Au 
gustus  Loftus  and  another  from  Shaw,  Consul  at 

132 


A  MEMOIR 

Manchester,  which  enclosed  a  telegram,  sent  there 
by  mistake,  from  the  National  Bulgarian  Assembly 
at  Tirnova.  I  could  not  hel-p  being  much  pleased. 

'"TiRNOVA,  April  4,   1879. 

"  i  At  the  time  that  European  diplomacy  was  try 
ing  with  all  possible  means  to  conceal  the  sufferings 
of  the  Bulgarian  nation,  in  consequence  of  the  Turk 
ish  atrocities  perpetrated  two  years  ago,  you, 
through  your  famous  report,  brought  the  truth  to 
light  and  helped  to  remedy  the  evil.  The  free  Bul 
garian  nation  hastens  to  thank  you  heartily  for  your 
great  services,  and  to  assure  you  that  your  hon 
oured  name  will  hold  an  enviable  place  in  the  his 
tory  of  the  liberation  of  our  nation. 

(Signed)  ANTRIM, 

President  of  the  National  Assembly.' ' 

While  on  a  visit  to  London  in  May,  1879,  Mr. 
Schuyler  saw  in  a  newspaper  his  appointment  as 
Consul-General  at  Rome,  and  returned  to  Birming 
ham  only  to  prepare  to  leave  it;  although  for  some 
reason  his  departure  was  delayed  until  the  end  of 
August.  Meanwhile,  in  the  leisure  of  Birmingham, 
he  had  begun  his  "  Life  of  Peter  the  Great,"  and  be 
fore  going  to  Rome  he  found  time  for  a  visit  to  Hol 
land,  where,  as  he  says,  he  "  archived  "  most  indus 
triously,  and  incidentally  made  an  effort  to  find  out 
something  about  his  Dutch  ancestors.  To  his  eld 
est  sister,1  whose  birthday  he  never  forgot  to  notice, 

1Mrs.  Grant. 
133 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

through  all  his  wanderings,  he  wrote  from  Amers- 
foort  on  August  3d: 

"  You  see  that  I  do  not  forget  your  birthday,  and 
I  write,  too,  from  the  birth-place  of  your  ancestors, 
as  well  as  of  Jan  Olden  Barneveldt.  ...  At 
present  I  will  only  say  that  there  was  a  Hendrik 
van  Slichtenhorst,  a  Schepen  (Alderman)  at  the 
Hague  from  1633  to  1646,  when  he  died,  and  that 
he  figures  in  two  splendid  large  pictures  by  Raves- 
tyn,  and  one  of  Jansen.  I  hope  he  is  a  relative.  I 
have  also  bought  a  copy  of  the  book  of  our  ancestor 
Arent  v.  Slichtenhorst,  the  '  History  of  Guelder- 
land.'  I  can  only  barely  make  myself  understood 
in  Dutch,  but  I  find  I  can  read  it  easily  enough. 

"  My  Dutch  cousin  came  and  took  me  to  Nykerk, 
the  home  of  the  Van  Rensselaers.  They  took  their 
name  from  an  estate  called  Rensselaer  close  by. 
There  and  in  many  other  churches  I  saw  the  Van 
Rensselaer  arms  on  many  tombstones.  In  the 
orphan  asylum  there  is  a  splendid  picture  by 
Breecker  in  1641,  of  the  first  regents  of  the  asylum. 
One  of  them  is  Jan  Van  Rensselaer  and  another 
Rykert  van  Twiller.  Every  one  thought  I  looked 
very  much  like  the  Van  Rensselaer.  I  didn't  see  it 
myself,  except  that  he  was  short  and  stout.  .  .  ." 

Mr.  Schuyler's  position  in  Rome  was  a  very  agree 
able  one.  He  and  his  wife  were  persona  gratissimce 
in  Roman  society,  where  the  latter  had  already  had 

134 


A  MEMOIR 

five  years'  experience.  On  the  other  hand,  the  ven 
erable  Mr.  Marsh,  for  many  years  Minister  of  the 
United  States  at  Rome,  and  greatly  respected  there 
for  his  learning  and  other  qualities,  considered  it 
derogatory  to  the  dignity  of  the  Service  to  associate 
the  Commercial  with  the  Diplomatic  branch  in  social 
matters,  and  therefore  declined  to  present  the  Con 
sul-General  at  Court.  To  a  man  who  had  been  used 
to  being  on  pleasant  terms  with  royalty  in  many 
countries,  this  view  was  unexpected.  However,  in 
one  way  it  gave  to  him  and  his  wife  a  social  position 
of  more  scope  than  would  otherwise  have  been  pos 
sible.  They  had  a  delightful  apartment  in  the 
Palazzo  Altemps,  where  they  received  their  friends 
in  their  usual  way.  Because  they  were,  in  a  manner, 
outsiders,  having  no  connection  with  the  Quirinal, 
everybody  came  to  them — both  Blacks  and  Whites. 
One  met  at  their  receptions  Cairoli,  the  King's 
Prime  Minister,  and  the  officials  of  the  Papal  Court; 
Cardinal  Howard,  and  Doctor  O'Connell,  the  head 
of  the  American  College;  the  ladies  of  the  Court;  the 
Ambassadors  to  the  two  Courts,  resplendent  with 
decorations;  all  Roman  society,  and  Americans 
without  number. 

At  this  time  "  Peter  the  Great "  was  coming  out 
in  Scribner's  Monthly  almost  as  fast  as  it  was  writ 
ten;  a  manner  of  publication  which  proved  trying  to 

135 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

the  nerves  of  a  much-interrupted  man.  Fortu 
nately  for  him  and  for  the  book,  his  duties  as  Consul- 
General  required  many  short  journeys  of  supervis 
ion,  and  at  these  times  he  could  often  stop  by  the 
way  and  get  a  quiet  day  or  two  for  writing,  and  for 
the  country  walks  which  he  loved.  He  wrote  from 
Albano  in  the  spring  of  1880: 

"  A  rainy  day  has  not  prevented  work,  though  it 
has  made  me  hazy  from  want  of  exercise.  Just  now 
I  am  capturing  Azof.  ...  I  walked  yesterday 
fully  ten  miles  and  came  home  rather  tired.  We 
went  to  Genzano,  from  there  down  close  to  the 
shore  of  Lake  Nemi,  then  up  an  awfully  steep  hill 
to  the  village  of  Nemi,  and  then  by  a  short  cut  to 
the  Galleria  di  Sopra,  on  Lake  Albano,  and  so  down 
home.  It  was  windy  and  cool,  but  we  had  the  sun 
just  at  the  worst  time — as  we  were  going  up  the 
hill.  For  wild  flowers  it  beats  even  Greece.  I 
counted  fully  eighty-five  plants  in  bloom,  not  count 
ing  grasses  or  the  lovely  ferns.  Some  of  them  were 
very  pretty.  In  the  woods  between  the  lakes  the 
ground  was  covered  with  the  Poets'  Narcissus,  of 
which  I  brought  home  a  large  handful. 

"  Dictation  last  night  and  this  morning.  Three 
parts  of  Part  10  finished.  Peter  is  back  in  Moscow, 
having  resisted — so  far  as  I  know — the  temptations 
of  Aurora  v.  Konigsmark  and  the  Fraulein  v. 
Thurn,  and  is  beginning  to  cut  off  beards  and 
skirts.  .  .  ." 

136 


A  MEMOIR 

The  Roman  life  came  to  an  end  very  soon.  In 
June,  1880,  Mr.  Schuyler  was  surprised  by  the  an 
nouncement  of  his  promotion  and  transfer  to  Bu- 
carest  as  Diplomatic  Agent  and  Consul-General. 
He  writes  of  his  appointment: 

"  We  enjoyed  Rome  very  greatly,  though  I  have 
been  far  too  busy  with  my  Consular  work  and  with 
'  Peter  the  Great '  to  get  all  the  advantage  of  Italy 
that  I  wished.  I  leave  it  with  regret.  Bucarest  is 
very  expensive  and  not  particularly  pleasant.  Still 
there  is  great  political  interest  in  the  East,  and  no 
one  knows  what  is  in  store  there.  ...  I  was 
appointed  without  my  knowledge,  and  even  yet 
have  no  official  announcement  of  the  fact." 

His  stay  in  Bucarest  was  beset  with  vexations. 
The  title  with  which  he  was  sent — Diplomatic 
Agent — did  not  suit  the  Roumanian  Government, 
who  justly  maintained  that  such  an  agent  could  not 
be  received  in  an  independent  country.  The  new 
ness  of  their  independence  made  them,  perhaps, 
more  particular;  but,  in  fact,  the  only  other  Dip 
lomatic  Agent  sent  by  us  was  to  Egypt,  a  vassal 
state.  The  President  respected  their  prejudices  by 
using  the  term  "  Diplomatic  Representative  "  in  his 
Message;  and  Mr.  Schuyler  was  accepted  provision 
ally  until  his  title  could  be  arranged.  About  the 

137 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

end  of  January  he  received  his  credentials  as  Charge- 
d' Affaires  and  Consul-General,  but  meantime  his 
anomalous  position  had  caused  him  many  annoy 
ances.  As  Char  ge-d' Affaires  he  was  placed  on  a 
par  with  his  colleagues  of  Holland  and  Monaco,  all 
the  others  being  of  higher  rank.  His  personal  rela 
tions  with  the  Prince  and  Princess  were  always 
pleasant.  Of  the  former  he  had  written  in  1876: 
"  Like  all  the  Hohenzollern  princes  that  I  have  met, 
he  leaves  you  under  a  spell,  produced  by  frankness, 
bonhommie,  intelligence,  and  culture.'' 

With  a  new  country  like  this,  relations  of  every 
kind  had  to  be  begun,  and  it  was  necessary,  there 
fore,  to  make  commercial  and  consular  treaties, 
which  placed  Americans  choosing  to  go  to  Rou- 
mania  for  business  purposes,  on  the  same  footing  as 
other  foreigners  as  to  rights  and  privileges.  These 
negotiations  dragged  on  until  the  following  sum 
mer,  owing  to  the  procrastinating  habits  of  the 
Roumanian  statesmen.  The  treaties  were,  how 
ever,  finally  signed  and  ratified.  In  addition,  there 
was  a  trade-mark  convention  to  be  made,  and  gen 
eral  and  special  reports  to  prepare  on  the  commerce, 
industries,  and  revenues  of  the  country. 

Meantime  a  visit  to  Bulgaria,  in  response  to  an 
invitation  to  dine  with  the  Prince,  made  a  pleasant 
episode. 

138 


A  MEMOIR 

"  RUSTCHUK,  September  26,   1880, 
Monday  Morning. 

".  .  .  So  far  I  have  every  reason  to  be  satisfied 
with  my  reception.  Stoilof,  the  Prince's  secretary, 
timed  a  visit  to  Bucarest  so  as  to  take  me  over,  and 
we  found  one  of  the  Prince's  launches  waiting  on 
the  Roumanian  side  of  the  river.  I  got  here  about 
noon,  and  at  two  o'clock  was  received  by  the  Prince, 
who  was  very  amiable,  and  who  talked  politics  a 
long  time  with  me.  He  thanked  me  for  all  I  had 
done,  and  also  for  my  telegrams.  It  seems  that 
my  telegram  after  the  Winter  Palace  explosion  was 
the  first  he  received,  and  Stoilof  told  me  he  was 
very  much  touched. 

"  Afterwards  I  went  to  Stoilof's  room,  where  I 
saw  the  Metropolitan-Archbishop,  who  was  all  that 
is  most  amiable.  A  number  of  Bulgarians  were  in 
vited  to  dinner  to  meet  me,  and  one  of  them  said  I 
had  saved  his  life.  I  had  seen  him  in  prison.  He 
was  then  a  school-teacher,  and  is  now  a  judge.  The 
Metropolitan  sat  on  the  right  hand  of  the  Prince 
and  I  on  his  left.  There  were,  among  others,  the 
Prefect,  the  Master  of  the  Court,  a  German,  and  a 
young  Russian  aide-de-camp,  to  whom  I  took  a 
fancy.  The  dinner  was  good,  and  the  conversation, 
at  least  on  our  side,  tolerably  animated.  The 
Prince  started  off  that  night  for  Shumla,  where  he 
has  some  inspections  of  troops. 

"  I  was  interrupted  here  by  a  visit  of  the  Metro 
politan,  the  Prefect,  and  all  the  city  authorities,  etc., 
etc.,  with  formal  speeches  and  no  end  of  hand- 

139 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

shaking,  and  thanks  to  the  original  liberator  and 
saviour  of  Bulgaria,  etc.  If  it  did  not  somehow 
seem  ludicrous  for  me  to  be  in  this  position  I 
should  feel  like  crying.  At  the  bottom  of  the  last 
page  I  had  a  visit  from  Mr.  ZancofT,  the  Minister 
of  Foreign  Affairs  and  Prime  Minister. 

"  Later. — I  breakfasted  with  Dalziel,  the  English 
Vice-Consul,  where  I  met  Vincent,1  one  of  the 
secretaries  of  the  East  Roumelian  Commission.  I 
had  seen  him  in  London.  Then  I  went  with  the 
Prefect  to  inspect  some  fortifications,  visited  a 
school,  and  called  on  the  Metropolitan,  and  appar 
ently  thus  escaped  a  Macedonian  deputation. 

"  I  am,  on  the  whole,  very  much  pleased  with  my 
visit.  Everybody  looks  happier  and  more  comfort 
able.  One  can  see  that  the  people  are  free.  Even 
the  Turks  seem  contented  enough.  It  seems  rather 
pleasant  to  see  Turks  again  in  their  motley  garb, 
bazaars,  and  minarets.  .  .  ." 

He  was  now  working  harder  than  ever  at  "  Peter 
the  Great,"  which  was  drawing  to  a  close  in  a  man 
ner  that  was  vexatious  to  him.  The  magazine  hav 
ing  changed  hands,  he  was  asked  to  condense  his 
later  chapters,  in  order  to  finish  more  quickly;  and 
where  he  did  not  condense  enough,  a  ruthless  editor 
either  mangled  or  omitted  some  of  the  portions  with 
which  he  had  taken  the  greatest  pains.  This,  of 
course,  necessitated  a  subsequent  rewriting  of  all 

1  Sir  Edgar  Vincent. 
140 


A  MEMOIR 

the  latter  part  of  the  book.     In  October  he  went 
to  Odessa  to  consult  the  library  there. 

"Still  at  ODESSA,  October  28,  1880, 
but  I  expect  to  leave  on  Monday. 

"  MY  DEAR  GERTRUDE  :  I  have  been  very  busy 
with  reading  up  until  I  thought  my  brain  would 
burst.  Everything  opens  up  here  so  much,  but  I 
hope  to  go  back  with  a  much  clearer  idea  of  certain 
things  concerning  Peter.  I  shall  also  be  all  primed 
to  write  my  regular  article  for  the  Athenaum  on 
Russian  literature.  .  .  ." 

"  BUCAREST,  November  14,  1880. 
".  .  .  My  report  is  finished,  but  the  third  copy 
is  not  quite  finished.  It  makes  eighty-one  pages  of 
foolscap,  of  which  forty-one  have  been  done  since 
I  got  back — in  ten  days.  Besides  that,  I  have  cor 
rected,  had  copied,  and  got  off  three  chapters  of 
Peter,  have  drawn  up  and  had  copied  a  pro  jet  de 
traite,  both  in  English  and  French,  twenty-one 
pages  each;  have  written  two  long  despatches  in 
English  and  French,  and  two  short  ones,  and  this 
makes  thirty-six  letters.  I  have  now  on  hand  some 
more  Peter  and  three  long  despatches.  I  feel, 
therefore,  that  I  have  not  been  idle,  but  still  I  have 
not  seemed  to  work  particularly  hard.  .  .  ." 

It  was  a  peculiarity  of  his  that  he  never  did  seem 
to  be  working  very  hard.  He  always  had  an  air  of 
leisure  and  detachment,  stopping  to  walk  about 

141 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

the  house  or  the  garden,  to  talk,  to  play  a  game 
of  patience,  seeming  to  idle  away  his  time,  but  ac 
complishing  an  amazing  amount  of  work.  At  this 
time  his  work  was  made  much  more  difficult  by  the 
long  illness  of  his  private  secretary.  Moreover, 
Bucarest  did  not  agree  with  him.  He  suffered 
greatly  from  neuralgia,  and  found  his  life  there  alto 
gether  depressing.  To  one  of  his  family  he  wrote : 

"  I  don't  know  why  you  have  such  a  fixed  idea 
of  the  charms  of  Bucarest.  Take  to-day;  it  is  sunny 
and  pleasant,  but  it  is  impossible  to  walk  a  step. 
There  are  two  streets  that  are  well  paved,  six  more 
with  a  block  or  two  of  paving;  the  rest  are  with 
large  cobble-stones  worse  than  Constantinople, 
either  no  sidewalks  or  paved  like  the  street.  Even 
in  the  good  streets  the  sidewalks  are  as  in  Pera, 
either  very  narrow  or  none  at  all.  As  the  streets 
are  never  cleaned  or  swept,  those  rare  sidewalks  are 
now  covered  with  slimy,  sticky  mud,  through  which 
you  must  shuffle,  for  if  you  lift  your  feet  you  fall 
down.  There  is  not  a  picture  nor  statue — a  poor 
library,  a  parody  on  a  museum,  almost  no  music, 
except  a  wretched  Italian  opera.  Society  is  fear 
ful.  .  .  . 

"  I  have  just  had  another  Christmas  present,  or, 
rather,  notice  of  one.  The  Prince  of  Serbia  has 
sent  me  the  Takova  Cross,  Commandeur,  round  the 
neck  like  the  others.  It  has  not  come  yet,  so  that 
I  don't  know  how  it  looks.  When  it  arrives  I  will 

142 


A  MEMOIR 

write  a  polite  note,  and  say  that  I  will  ask  permis 
sion  of  Congress  to  wear  it.  I  won't  say  when,  but 
that  will  excuse  me  from  wearing  it  if  I  go  to  Bel 
grade.  Of  course  I  don't  wear  any  of  them,  except 
the  Roumanian  medal,  which  is  not  a  decoration, 
being  only  given  for  literary  merit.  But  some  day 
when  I  am  in  America  I'll  get  some  friend  to  get 
a  resolution  through  Congress  for  all  of  them.  I 
see  General  Sickles  has  just  asked  permission  for 
the  Legion  of  Honor." 

In  March,  1881,  occurred  the  assassination  of  the 
Emperor  of  Russia. 

"  The  first  account  has  just  come.  The  awful 
details  make  me  almost  sick.  ...  I  don't  think 
I  ever  spoke  to  the  present  Emperor,1  except  on 
my  formal  presentation,  and  I  don't  remember  that 
I  was  even  presented.  He  did  not  care  much  to 
see  people.  But  I  used  to  hear  a  good  deal  about 
him  from  people  who  knew  him,  and,  contrary  to 
most  foreigners,  formed  a  high  opinion  of  him. 
One  thing  is  perfectly  true.  He  and  his  wife  are 
still  in  love  with  each  other;  and  they  were  the  only 
ones  of  the  Imperial  family,  male  or  female,  about 
whom  there  was  not  the  slightest  breath  of  scandal. 
I  might,  perhaps,  except  the  Grand  Duchess  Cath 
erine  (Mecklenburg)  and  the  Grand  Duchess  Vladi 
mir.  He  is  obstinate,  but  he  is  sensible  and  intelli 
gent,  and  is  fond  of  the  English." 

i  Alexander  III. 
143 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

"  BUCAREST,  March  26,  1881. 

".  .  .  We  have  had  a  great  excitement.  The 
Prince  has  been  proclaimed  King.  I  have  just 
come  from  the  Senate,  where  I  saw  the  law  voted. 
The  town  is  gay  with  flags.  It  is  a  pleasant  day, 
and  everybody  is  out.  Fortunately,  I  did  some 
work  this  morning,  for  I  have  been  gadding  about 
all  the  afternoon,  seeing  my  colleagues,  who  are 
now  only  distinguished  strangers  until  they  get 
new  credentials,  and  looking  at  the  crowd.  Un 
luckily,  it  will  put  the  treaty  back  a  few  days  yet, 
and  some  pages  will  have  to  be  re-copied.  I  have 
sent  a  telegram  to  Washington  and  hope  to  get 
one  soon  in  reply. 

"  It  seems  that  yesterday  the  Conservatives  vio 
lently  attacked  the  Liberals  for  protecting  Nihilists, 
which  made  the  majority  so  angry  that  they  insisted 
on  proclaiming  the  King  as  a  reply.  It  was  not 
to  be  done  until  May  22.  No  foreign  power  has 
been  asked  for  its  consent,  and  some  of  the  Aus- 
trians  are  furious.  Awkwardly  enough  for  them, 
both  Hoyos  and  Wesdehlen  went  to  Sinaia  early 
this  morning  to  look  for  a  house,  so  that  they  know 
nothing  about  it.  ... 

"  March  2?th. — After  finishing  my  letter  last 
night,  I  went  up  towards  the  palace  with  the  crowd, 
and  when  all  the  formalities  had  been  concluded  the 
King  and  Queen  came  out  on  the  balcony.  He 
looked  grave  and  quiet,  but  she  was  excited  and 
very  much  pleased,  and  constantly  waved  her  hand 
kerchief  to  the  crowd.  When  they  had  gone  in 

144 


A  MEMOIR 

Bratiano1  bowed  awhile  and  finally  kissed  his 
hand  right  and  left.  It  is  something,  of  course,  to 
make  a  king.  .  .  . 

"  May  10,  1881—  ...  Your  letters  came  yes 
terday,  just  as  I  was  starting  on  my  picnic.  '  Gar 
nichts  oder  ganz  '  is  the  Queen's  favourite  motto, 
and  has  no  special  reference  to  her  being  queen. 
They  say  she  is  very  unhappy.  She  is  rather  afraid 
of  her  husband,  who  is  not  very  sympathetic;  she 
has  no  children,  and  worse  even,  not  a  single  rela 
tive  or  equal  in  the  country.  In  most  royal  families 
you  know,  there  are  a  lot  of  cousins,  brothers,  and 
sisters,  who  help  pass  the  time.  When  Carol  came 
as  Prince  he  introduced  a  very  rigid  etiquette, 
which  has  quite  cut  them  off  from  intercourse 
with  the  people  of  the  country.  So  she  is  to  be 
pitied.  .  .  . 

"  I  am  much  worried  over  Bulgaria.  The  Prince 
is  going  to  try  to  upset  the  Constitution.  You  will 
have  seen  his  proclamation  in  the  papers.  I  tried 
to  see  Zancoff  to-day,  but  was  unsuccessful.  I 
shall  do  what  I  can  to  support  the  Constitutional 
party.  I  think  the  abdication  of  the  Prince  much 
the  least  of  two  evils,  and  I  cannot  but  ask  myself 
whether  there  is  not  some  Russian  intrigue  at  bot 
tom,  to  show  the  Russians  the  folly  of  a  constitu 
tion.  .  .  . 

"  It  seems  to  me  now  as  if  there  were  nothing  but 
going  to  bed  and  getting  up  again,  with  a  little 
worry  in  between.  ...  If  I  were  in  the  service 

1  The  Prime  Minister. 

VOL.  I.— 10  145 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

of  any  other  Government  it  might  do  me  good  to 
be  an  authority  about  these  countries.  But  with 
ours  it  is  not  of  the  least  service." 

In  June,  1881,  he  was  sent  on  a  special  mission 
to  Belgrade  for  the  purpose  of  making  treaties  with 
Serbia. 

"  I  fear  that  my  stay  here  will  be  prolonged  for  a 
few  days.  I  saw  Mr.  Mijatovitch  again  this  morn 
ing,  and  gave  him  my  draft  treaties.  He  says  he 
will  read  them  over  at  once,  and  hopes  that  we  can 
come  to  an  agreement  in  a  few  days.  I  should 
then  have  to  send  them  to  America  before  signing, 
which  would  take  about  six  weeks.  .  .  .  We 
had  a  long  hunt  in  the  library  this  morning  for  the 
volumes  of  Russian  laws  I  wanted,  which  had  got 
misplaced.  There  is  an  awful  job  before  me  to 
study  them,  which,  however,  will  satisfy  my  author's 
conscience  not  to  take  the  things  at  second 
hand.  .  .  . 

"  At  noon  I  was  received  by  the  Prince  and  Prin 
cess.  I  was  in  ordinary  morning  dress,  with  black 
gloves,  he  ditto,  and  she  in  black.  They  are  in 
mourning  for  his  grandmother,  who  died  the  other 
day,  very  old — a  peasant  woman,  who  could  neither 
read  nor  write.  I  had  sweets  and  cold  water  and  a 
cup  of  coffee.  They  were  very  amiable.  He  has 
great  good  sense,  and  showed  that  he  perfectly 
understood  himself  and  what  he  was  talking  about. 

146 


A  MEMOIR 

He  is  much  more  sympathetic  than  the  Roumanian 
King." 

While  waiting  for  the  treaties  to  be  sent  back 
from  America,  he  went  for  a  short  visit  to  Paris. 
From  Vienna  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  August  4th: 

"  I  think  you  will  laugh  when  I  tell  you  why  I 
stay  over  here  to-morrow.  I  am  invited  to  dinner 
to  meet  the  King  of  the  Sandwich  Islands.  I  have 
been  dining  to-night  to  meet  the  Prime  Minister, 
and  am  to  breakfast  with  him  to-morrow. 

"  I  found,  to  my  astonishment,  to-day  that  the 
Prime  Minister  is  Armstrong — whom  we  used  to 
call  '  Feejee  '  Armstrong — an  old  college  friend  of 
mine.  You  say  I  meet  them  everywhere.  He  was 
born  in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  where  his  father  was 
a  missionary  or  something  of  the  kind,  but  had 
never  been  back  there.  He  had  always  known  the 
King,  and  did  a  good  deal  for  him  in  America. 
The  King  then  asked  him  to  go  out,  but  he  refused. 
He  said,  however,  that  if  the  King  should  ever  get 
into  difficulties,  to  send  for  him.  Last  November, 
when  he  had  lost  all  his  money  and  was  helping  his 
brother  supervise  the  negro  schools  at  Hampton, 
he  got  a  telegram  to  go  at  once.  He  was  made 
Attorney-General,  settled  all  the  difficulties,  and  is 
now  Prime  Minister  and  Foreign  Affairs.  Then 
came  the  journey  round  the  world,  and  for  the  last 
few  months  he  has  done  nothing  but  hobnob  with 
Kings,  Queens,  and  Emperors  —  China,  Japan, 

147 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

Siam,  Burmah,  India,  Egypt,  Berlin,  London, 
Vienna,  etc.  He  is  very  entertaining  and  amus 
ing,  especially  when  he  talks  about  his  King. 
Phelps  had  him  to  dinner  to-night,  together  with 
Jones  and  his  daughter,  and  a  very  amusing  old 
man,  Smith — who  is  with  them — a  man  who  seems 
to  know  everybody.  By  the  way,  Jones  crossed 
with  you  all  in  1867,  when  you  rescued  a  ship 
wrecked  crew,  and  your  father  christened  a  baby. 
From  there  we  went  to  the  Volks-garten,  where  I 
met  General  di  Cesnola,  whom  I  knew  only  by 
correspondence.  .  .  ." 


"  VIENNA,  Sunday,  August  7,  1881. 
".  .  .  The  dinner  last  night  passed  off  very 
well.  .  .  .  Besides  the  King,  his  prime  minister 
and  his  chamberlain,  there  were  only  Jones,  Smith 
— who  knows  everybody  in  New  York  and  Paris — 
Cesnola,  and  myself.  His  Majesty  Kalakaua  was 
very  amiable  and  pleasant,  and  there  was  a  good 
deal  of  general  conversation.  I  did  not,  however, 
get  any  chance  to  talk  to  him,  on  account  of  my 
place  at  table.  I  devoted  myself  chiefly  to  Arm 
strong,  and  had  a  very  jolly  time.  His  Majesty  is 
not  bad  looking,  but  very  much  like  a  negro, 
which  is  strange,  as  he  has  no  negro  blood  in  him. 
I  have  acquired  such  delightful  ideas  of  the  climate 
and  life  at  the  Sandwich  Islands,  that  I  think  I 
would  accept  with  joy  if  Blaine  sent  me  there  as 
Minister.  .  .  ." 

148 


A  MEMOIR 

To  his  Wife. 

"  BUCAREST,  Monday,  September  26,  1881. 
".  .  .  The  Requiem  for  the  repose  of  the  soul 
of  President  Garfield  took  place  yesterday  morning 
in  the  cathedral,  with  all  due  ceremony,  the  Metro 
politan  conducting  the  proceedings.  The  service 
by  no  means  comes  up  to  a  Russian  one.  There  had 
been  very  late  notice,  and  not  many  people  were 
there;  most  of  the  diplomats,  several  officials  and 
officers,  etc.,  etc.  In  spite  of  the  pouring  rain,  I 
had  to  go  down  again  in  the  afternoon  to  call  on 
the  Metropolitan  and  thank  him.  He  speaks 
French  and  is  a  nice  old  man.  I  believe  the  Gov 
ernment  has  also  sent  a  telegram  of  condolence  to 
Mrs.  Garfield.  They  have  also  charged  me  with  a 
message  for  the  Government.  The  papers  say  that 
the  English  Court  has  gone  into  mourning.  I 
should  not  be  surprised  if  this  and  the  general  feel 
ing  of  sympathy  in  England  led  to  our  sending  an 
Ambassador  to  England  before  very  long.  I  am 
sure  I  hope  so.  All  this  only  shows  how  people 
are  beginning  to  respect  us  now  that  we  are  strong 
and  successful.  England  now  looks  at  us  with  very 
different  eyes  from  twenty  years  ago.  ...  I  see 
that  the  Belgian  and  Spanish  Courts  have  also  gone 
into  mourning.  .  .  ." 

In  the  autumn  of  1881  a  leave  of  absence  enabled 
Mr.  Schuyler  to  revisit  America.  During  the  win 
ter,  which  he  spent  chiefly  in  Washington,  his 

149 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

advice  was  asked  in  regard  to  certain  matters 
concerning  which  he  was  greatly  interested  and 
particularly  well  informed.  He  had  always  advo 
cated  the  union,  wherever  possible,  of  the  Diplo 
matic  and  Consular  Service,  on  grounds  of  economy 
and  efficiency. 

"  Our  interests  are  chiefly  commercial  ones.  Any 
important  case  has  to  go  in  the  end  to  the  Minister. 
Why  not  suppress  the  intermediate  step — the  Con 
sul-General — or  unite  him  to  the  Legation?  It 
will  be  cheaper  and  will  be  more  efficient.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  a  saving  to  travellers  and 
others.  .  .  .  The  office  of  Consul-General  is 
chiefly  one  of  supervision — at  Rome  almost  en 
tirely  so — and  that  could  perfectly  well  be  per 
formed  by  the  Legation.  In  London  and  Paris 
this  is  impossible  or  very  difficult,  owing  to  the 
amount  of  work  done.  .  .  . 

"  There  is  no  such  absolute  distinction  between 
diplomatic  and  consular  duties  as  many  people,  not 
diplomats,  seem  to  think.  They  constantly  run 
into  one  another.  If  our  Government  chose  to  im 
pose  upon  the  Legations  all  the  duties  incumbent 
on  consuls  it  would  make  no  practical  difference  to 
anybody,  and  would,  of  course,  be  only  applicable 
in  the  Capitals,  where  the  Legations  reside.  .  .  . 
Nearly  every  government  has  at  some  time  carried 
on  its  consular  business  in  some  Legation  or  other. 
But  just  here  is  a  point  about  which  there  may  be 

150 


A  MEMOIR 

a  susceptibility,  charging  not  diplomats  with  con 
sular,  but  consuls  with  diplomatic  functions.  Gen 
erally  speaking,  in  Europe  diplomats  come  from 
the  upper  and  consuls  from  the  middle  classes;  and 
this  looks  like  putting  a  man  above  his  sphere. 
You  know  the  idea  is  very  widely  spread  in  America 
that  it  is  absurd  to  have  any  diplomats;  that  a 
consul  acting  as  Char ge-d? Affaires  could  do  the 
work  just  as  well.  Now  what  I  have  wanted  to 
do  was  to  ...  show  that  ministers  and  secre 
taries,  while  not  losing  the  consideration  attached 
to  them,  and  keeping  their  proper  rank,  are  per 
fectly  fit  and  able  to  do  consular  duty  and  are  not 
useless  excrescences." 

Mr.  Schuyler's  opinion  was  not  mere  theory. 
Among  other  instances,  the  Italian  Minister  had 
the  title  of  Consul  or  Consul-General  in  five  coun 
tries,  while  a  number  of  European  Courts  recog 
nised  our  Minister  as  Consul-General  or  our  Con 
sul-General  as  also  Secretary  of  Legation  without 
any  trouble.  In  view  of  all  this  he  assisted  in  the 
preparation  of  a  bill  uniting  the  Consulate-Gen 
eral  with  the  Legation  in  several  places,  including 
Rome  and  Vienna.  In  his  absence,  and  greatly 
to  his  annoyance,  the  wording  of  the  bill  was  ac 
cidentally  changed,  so  that  instead  of  making  the 
Secretary  of  Legation,  Consul-General,  the  Con 
sul-General  was  invested  with  the  office  of  Secre- 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

tary  of  Legation.  This  unfortunate  mistake  caused 
him  to  be  accused  of  having  shortened  the  life  of 
the  Minister  to  Rome,  by  depriving  him  of  a  sec 
retary  without  whose  services  he  was  unable  to 
carry  on  the  work  of  the  Legation;  and  a  very 
powerful  enemy  was  raised  up  in  Washington. 
The  result  was  far-reaching,  and  was  undoubtedly 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  subsequent  interruption  of 
his  career. 


VII 

Mr.  Schuyler  remained  in  America  until  the  fol 
lowing  July.  Meantime  he  was  appointed  Minister 
to  Greece,  Serbia,  and  Roumania,  and  after  visiting 
the  two  latter  countries,  took  up  his  residence  in 
Athens  in  January,  1883. 

His  first  visit  there  had  been  made  in  the  spring 
of  1877,  when  he  went  off  for  a  breathing  space 
after  the  eight  months  of  work  and  worry  entailed 
by  the  Bulgarian  investigation  and  the  events 
which  followed  it.  A  letter  written  at  that  time 
gives  his  first  impressions  in  all  their  freshness: 

"  I  cannot  realize  that  I  have  been  here  only  a 
week,  so  much  has  been  compressed  into  a  small 
time.  There  is  much  to  see  and  much  to  enjoy,  and 
much  that  is  simply  strange.  For  one  thing,  peo- 

152 


A  MEMOIR 

pie  here  are  much  more  cut  off  from  the  world  than 
at  Constantinople,  and  the  European  mails  leave  at 
rare  and,  to  me,  difficult-to-ascertain  times.  To 
day  is  the  Greek  Good  Friday,  and  I  must  say  I 
never  saw  so  strange  a  one,  or,  on  the  whole,  so 
jolly  a  one.  The  streets  are  full  to  overflowing 
with  people,  and  yet  it  is  not  a  close  holiday,  for 
most  of  the  shops  are  open.  One,  indeed,  is  draped 
in  deep  black,  and  the  flags  are  everywhere  at  half- 
mast,  but  trade  goes  on  as  briskly  as  ever.  Half 
of  the  common  people  go  about  with  lambs  and 
sheep  on  their  shoulders  or  hung  around  their 
necks — to  be  eaten  on  Easter — and  booths  are  on 
all  the  corners,  for  the  sale  of  Easter  candles  and 
red  Easter  eggs.  We  went  into  some  of  the 
churches  and  did  as  the  rest  did,  and  were  never 
before  so  hospitably  received.  For  a  few  sous  we 
bought  some  slim  candles,  which  we  lighted  and 
stuck  before  the  pictures  of  the  saints,  some  little 
bouquets  and  sprigs  of  flowers,  which  we  laid  on 
the  tomb  of  Christ,  erected  in  the  middle  of  the 
church,  and  we  were  then  sprinkled  with  holy 
water  from  long-necked  blue  bottles,  and  were 
given  sprigs  of  orange  flowers  for  ourselves,  amid 
the  smiles  and  bows  of  the  priests,  deacons,  and 
all  the  assistants.  To-night  there  are  to  be  every 
where  funeral  processions,  of  which  I  will  tell  you 
later. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  purity 
of  the  air,  the  loveliness  of  the  landscape,  and  the 
charm  of  everything,  from  the  Acropolis  to  the 

153 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

Public  Garden,  and  from  the  peasant  to  the  King. 
Each  day  seems  more  delightful  than  the  one  pre 
ceding.  Coming  here  from  Constantinople  is  like 
suddenly  emerging  into  civilization.  I  feel  better 
and  younger.  We  don't  even  talk  politics,  though 
I  have  met  nearly  the  whole  diplomatic  corps.  It 
is  quite  another  atmosphere — moral  and  intellect 
ual,  as  well  as  physical. 

"  The  more  I  see  the  ruins  and  the  remnants  of 
ancient  sculpture,  the  more  I  am  willing  to  bow 
down  before  Greek  art,  and  to  admit  that  the 
Greeks  of  the  old  days  could  not  do  wrong  in  mat 
ters  of  taste. 

"  We  left  Constantinople  last  Wednesday  on  the 
Messageries  steamer,  and  after  coasting  by  purple 
islands  scattered  through  a  bright  blue  sea,  anch 
ored  off  the  Piraeus  early  on  Friday  morning.  An 
hour's  drive  brought  us  to  Athens. 

"  How  our  days  have  been  spent,  except  that  they 
have  been  pleasant  and  happy,  I  don't  think  I  could 
tell  you.  We  have  been  to  Daphne  and  Eleusis, 
have  ascended  Mount  Pentelicus,  have  driven 
through  the  olive  groves  of  Plato's  Academy,  have 
been  almost  daily  to  the  Acropolis,  and  were  pre 
sented  to  King  George,  who  was  very  pleasant  and 
amiable  and  talked  to  us  for  a  long  time.  One 
thing  we  found  very  delightful,  and  that  was, 
strange  to  say,  the  cemetery.  Not  the  modern 
one,  but  one  where  people  have  been  resting  for 
2,000  years  and  more;  where  simple,  touching 
tombs  have  but  lately  been  brought  to  light.  There 

154 


A  MEMOIR 

was  no  suggestion  of  grief  in  those  sculptures — 
restrained,  but  sad,  farewells.  I  wish  you  could  see 
them.  Unfortunately,  photographs  never  show 
such  things  exactly  as  they  seem  to  you  when  you 
see  them;  they  exaggerate  defects  and  discolora- 
tions,  and  do  not  allow  your  fancy  to  replace  the 
broken  noses  or  smooth  the  ragged  outlines.  .  .  . 

"  I  believe  I  began  this  letter  on  Good  Friday, 
but  it  is  now  Easter  Sunday  in  the  Greek  rite.  We 
were  at  a  great  ceremony  last  night  at  the  cathe 
dral,  or,  rather,  on  a  platform  in  front  of  it.  The 
King  and  Queen  and  all  the  Court  came  to  be 
blessed  by  the  Metropolitan  at  midnight.  The 
whole  square  was  alive  with  lighted  candles,  and  the 
effect  was  marvellous.  Unluckily,  Greek  church 
music  is  not  as  good  as  Russian,  or  it  would  have 
been  even  grander.  The  streets  were  all  filled  with 
troops,  and  what  with  the  bands,  the  people,  the 
lights,  and  the  firecrackers  and  the  fireworks,  it  was 
very  gay.  Good  Friday  evening  was  almost  as  gay 
in  another  way  with  the  religious  processions,  while 
everybody  held  candles. 

:(  The  fields,  hillsides,  and  roadsides  all  about  here 
are  wonderfully  gay  with  wild  onion — pink  or  white 
— daisies,  marigolds,  scarlet  poppies,  and  blood-red 
anemones — these  last  the  most  beautiful  of  all. 

"  The  Reads  have  been  very  polite  to  us;  far  more 
than  I  had  any  right  to  expect,  and  we  have  taken 
them  in  great  affection.  In  general,  every  one  here 
is  nice  and  agreeable,  and  we  are  already  great 
Philhellenes.  .  .  ." 

155 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

The  Schuylers  were  very  fortunate  in  their  house 
(Michaeli  Vodu),  which  was  a  little  out  of  the  city; 
a  palace,  in  a  very  large  garden — the  largest  in 
Athens  except  the  King's.  Their  landlord  was 
Prince  Souzo,  a  son  of  that  Souzo,  a  Phanariot 
Greek,  who,  after  being  made  Hospodar,  was  start 
ing  for  Bucarest,  when  the  Sultan  casually  men 
tioned  a  little  service  which  he  could  render  in  return 
for  his  new  honours.  Would  he  be  so  obliging  as 
to  send  back  the  head  of  a  certain  prominent  per 
sonage  in  Bucarest.  The  commission  was  executed 
in  the  simple  manner  of  the  time,  the  person  in  re 
quest  being  bidden  to  a  feast.  At  the  end,  when 
the  guests  were  dispersing,  there  was  the  slight 
gesture  usual  in  such  cases,  and  the  head  was 
brought  in  a  few  moments  after. 

In  spite  of  the  Arabian  Nights  entertainments  of 
the  last  generation,  the  Athenian  Souzo  was  a 
peaceful  and  agreeable  man,  who  let  his  palace  and 
lived  in  an  apartment  in  the  city.  Still,  the  civili 
sation  of  modern  Greece  is  not  very  old.  The 
King's  aide-de-camp  de  Service  was  Colonel  Hadji- 
Petros,  the  son  of  the  Roi  des  Montagnes;  and 
among  the  Greek  Deputies  were  a  few  who  still 
wore  the  national  costume,  and  might  quite  well 
have  been  brigands  in  their  day.  One  of  them 
stared  so  long  and  so  fixedly  at  Mrs.  Stanford's  dia- 

156 


A  MEMOIR 

monds  that  a  bystander  exclaimed:  "  Oh,  wouldn't 
he  like  to  catch  her  in  a  dark  place  on  her  way 
home!" 

It  was  at  a  reception  at  the  Schliemanns'.  They 
had  a  handsome  house  and  entertained  a  great  deal. 
As  Schliemann  delighted  in  finding  that  the  old 
Greek  names  were  still  in  use,  Madame  Schliemann 
(who  is  a  Greek)  used  to  say  when  engaging  a  new 
porter:  "  Your  name  is  Rhadamanthus,"  and  to 
the  cook,  "  Your  name  is  Pelops."  On  this  occa 
sion  Mrs.  Stanford  had  consulted  a  friend  about  her 
dress,  saying  that  she  was  sorry  she  had  left  her 
diamonds  at  home;  she  only  travelled  with  a  few. 
When  she  entered  in  her  purple  and  gold  gown,  she 
was  blazing  with  diamonds  from  head  to  foot. 
Everybody  stopped  talking  and  looked  at  her,  and, 
after  a  little,  Madame  Schliemann  said  to  Mr. 
Schuyler:  "  Shall  I  go  up  and  put  on  my  Trojan 
necklace?  "  "  Certainly,"  he  said;  and  she  ran  up 
stairs  like  a  little  girl.  When  she  came  down  she 
said  to  Mrs.  Stanford:  "  You  have  your  diamonds, 
but  I  have  my  necklace,  which  was  dug  out  of  the 
ruins  of  Troy." 

"  My  diamonds  are  older  still,"  said  Mrs.  Stan 
ford.  "  They  were  dug  out  of  the  bowels  of  the 
earth." 

At  this  time  Tricoupis,  the  great  Greek  states- 
157 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

man,  was  in  power.  He  was  the  Government. 
His  capabilities  and  endurance  seemed  unlimited, 
and  it  used  to  be  said  of  him,  with  more  or  less 
truth,  that  whenever  a  Minister  resigned,  he  took 
the  vacant  place,  so  that  it  sometimes  happened 
that  he  held  nearly  all  the  portfolios  at  once.  He 
was  a  strong  man  and  a  serious  one.  Interesting 
he  always  was,  but  he  did  not  care  for  trifling;  nor 
could  he  find  leisure  or  inclination  to  be  so  con 
stantly  accessible  as  is  expected  in  ultra-democratic 
Greece.  His  devoted  sister  took  that  duty  upon 
herself.  Miss  Tricoupis  was  never  known  to  go  out 
of  the  house,  but  received  from  eight  o'clock  in  the 
morning  until  midnight.  A  man-servant  in  Greek 
costume  sat  on  a  chair  on  the  pavement,  in  order 
to  be  able  to  direct  visitors  upstairs.  At  the  head 
of  the  stairs  they  knocked  on  a  door,  were  bidden 
to  come  in — "  Oriste!  " — and  entered  the  salon. 
This  was  a  room  literally  filled  with  plants  and 
flowers.  An  india-rubber  plant  reached  to  the  ceil 
ing;  all  manner  of  other  things  grew  in  pots,  and 
every  available  spot  held  plates  and  vases  of  flowers, 
principally  wild  flowers.  Miss  Tricoupis  always  sat 
on  a  sofa  at  the  left  of  the  door.  Chairs  were 
arranged  in  a  semicircle  in  front  of  the  sofa,  and  the 
most  distinguished  guest  was  placed  beside  the 
hostess,  in  the  Continental  fashion.  Miss  Tricoupis 

•58 


A  MEMOIR 

wore  an  unchanging  costume;  a  black  stuff  gown, 
made  with  a  train,  with  white  lace  around  the 
neck  and  down  the  front  of  the  bodice,  and  her 
hair  braided  in  front  a  la  Grecque.  Her  face  was 
not  handsome,  but  strong  and  pleasing,  with  very 
bright,  brown  eyes.  At  this  time  she  was  a  middle- 
aged  woman,  perhaps  a  trifle  older  than  her  brother. 
She  had  the  vivacity  which  he  lacked,  and  made 
herself  agreeable  to  every  one.  Besides  this,  she 
was  able,  in  the  course  of  a  day,  to  pick  up  any 
amount  of  information  which  he  must  have  found 
useful.  Foreigners  were  welcome  to  her  salon 
during  the  day,  but  the  evening,  when  Tricoupis 
himself  could  be  present,  was  reserved  for  the 
Greeks;  and  while  others  were  not  forbidden,  it  was 
generally  understood  that  they  would  go  in  the 
daytime. 

There  were  always  Russian  ships  in  the  harbor 
and  usually  many  others,  and  life  was  gay  as  far 
as  breakfasts,  dinners,  dances,  and  entertainments 
of  that  sort  were  concerned,  but  there  was  no  the 
atre — no  opera — not  even  concerts,  except  some 
times  at  the  palace. 

"  In  spite  of  scenery,  we  cannot  equal  Rome  in 
attractions.  Tis  the  Carnival,  and  dancing  is  the 
aim  of  life.  You  would  not  suspect  me  of  that, 
and  what  will  you  think  when  I  tell  you  that  I 

159 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

opened  a  the  dansant  chez  nons  day  before  yesterday 
by  dancing  with  the  Queen?  You  know  every 
thing  begins  small.  We  have  the  best  dancing- 
room  in  Athens.  Twas  thought  to  revive  the 
mazurka,  which  has  not  been  danced  since  Otho's 
days,  and  of  which  the  Queen,  as  a  Russian,  is  very 
fond.  At  the  Russian  Court  it  replaces  the  cotil 
lon.  So  they  asked  us  to  give  a  practising  place. 
We  were  only  too  glad  to  consent,  for  it  amuses  us 
to  have  others  be  amused.  The  Grand  Duke  Paul 
(brother  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia)  came  once,  and 
asked  for  another.  The  result  was,  that  on  Tues 
day  we  gave  a  dancing  afternoon,  which  seems  to 
take  here,  as  saving  ball  dresses,  to  which  the 
Queen  also  came  with  one  hundred  and  ninety 
others  and  danced  for  three  hours.  Now  they  ask 
for  another  soon.  As  royalty  has  gone  to  no  other 
diplomatic  house  for  three  years,  the  rest  don't  like 

it,  and  talk  about  these  d d  republicans,  but 

what  care  we?  What  makes  it  worse  is,  that  we 
are  the  only  non-Russian  diplomats  asked  to  the 
balls  and  fetes  on  the  Russian  ships  when  the  King 
and  Queen  go.  The  King  says  he  don't  care. 
Neither  do  I." 

The  Queen  was  still  young;  she  had  been  married 
at  sixteen.  She  was  a  devoted  mother  and  a  most 
kind  and  sympathetic  woman,  very  active  in  works 
of  benevolence.  She  had  more  gayety  of  tempera 
ment  than  the  King,  and  must  have  missed  the 

160 


A  MEMOIR 

large  family  circle  of  the  Russian  Court,  with  their 
constant  informal  amusements. 

The  afternoon  dances  were  all  extremely  simple 
affairs.  Tea  and  cakes  constituted  the  principal 
refreshment.  On  the  first  occasion  a  young  Rus 
sian  officer  said  to  Mrs.  Schuyler:  "  Your  samovar 
isn't  nearly  big  enough.  I'll  bring  ours  next  time." 
And  after  that,  every  time  there  was  a  dance  at 
Michaeli  Vodu,  the  young  Russian  appeared  with 
the  ship's  samovar  tucked  under  his  arm. 

After  hearing  about  the  Queen's  dance,  the  King 
intimated  that  he  would  like  to  go  too. 

"  Admiral  Baldwin  has  been  here  now  a  week 
with  the  Lancaster,  (illegible)  and  Kearsarge,  and 
has  been  making  full  atonement  for  what  was 
thought  the  rudeness  of  Admiral  Nicholson  about 
two  years  ago.  I  am  nearly  killed  by  it  all  myself. 
We  began  with  an  informal  dinner  and  soiree,  fol 
lowed  by  another.  On  Monday  we  had  a  pretty 
garden-party  and  dance,  where  we  were  much 
helped  by  the  Lancaster's  band.  One  surprise  we 
could  give  to  the  officers,  which  was  to  show  them 
more  pretty  girls  than  they  have  the  habit  of  seeing 
out  of  America.  On  Wednesday  the  King  break 
fasted  with  us  at  the  Legation.  We  were  twenty  in 
all;  and  besides  the  officers  and  regulation  guest?, 
we  were  able  to  ask  the  Roumanian  Minister  and 
the  Serbian  Minister  and  his  wife;  also  the  Russian 
VOL.  I.— ii  l6l 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

Char ge-d' Affaires  and  Madame  Bakhmeteff.  It 
passed  off  remarkably  well,  both  eating  and  drink 
ing  fairly  good,  and  the  Lancaster's  orchestra  play 
ing  in  the  next  room.  The  King  stayed  fully  an 
hour  and  a  half  afterwards.  This  is  the  only  foreign 
house  he  has  taken  a  meal  in  for  very  many  years, 
except  the  Russian  Legation,  where  it  is  de  rigueur 
to  invite  the  Queen,  as  being  a  Russian  Grand 
Duchess." 

It  was  at  this  breakfast  that  the  King  spoke  to 
Mrs.  Schuyler  of  his  early  life  in  Greece,  and  of 
having  come  there  a  boy  of  eighteen,  of  another 
religion  and  another  language.  "  My  boy  will  have 
an  easier  time  of  it  than  I  have  had,"  he  said;  "  but 
thank  God,  I  have  had  a  happy  marriage." 

It  is  a  somewhat  thankless  task  to  be  the  king 
of  an  intensely  democratic  people. 

The  King  and  Queen  carried  themselves  very 
royally,  and  no  one  knew  better  than  King  George 
how  to  prevent  a  liberty;  but  in  their  private  life 
they  were  extremely  simple  and  natural.  When 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Schuyler  were  about  to  leave  Athens, 
they  were  invited  to  the  King's  country  place  at 
Dekeleia  to  say  good-by.  A  palace  has  been  built 
there  since,  but  then  it  was  a  simple  country  house. 
It  was  all  quite  charming,  and  leaves  a  pretty  picture 

in  one's  mind — the  King  making  jokes  with  the 

162 


A  MEMOIR 

children  and  running  up-stairs  two  steps  at  a  time  to 
see  if  the  Queen  was  ready  to  receive  the  guests; 
the  Queen  taking  Mrs.  Schuyler  into  her  bedroom 
to  show  her  an  Ikon  which  had  belonged  to  Peter 
the  Great,  and  saying:  "  Do  you  think  Mr.  Schuy 
ler  would  be  shocked  if  I  brought  him  in  here?  " 
Everything  perfectly  unaffected,  yet  not  without 
the  proper  amount  of  observances. 

When  they  were  asked  to  write  their  names  in 
the  visitors'  book,  and  it  was  found  that  a  queen's 
writing  materials  go  astray  like  other  people's,  she 
called  out,  as  any  other  wife  might  call  on  the  man 
of  the  house  for  help:  "  Oh,  Vil— lee,  Vil— lee,  I 
have  no  pen;  I  have  no  ink!  " 

On  coming  to  the  throne,  the  King  had  been 
obliged  to  change  his  name,  as  well  as  his  language 
and  his  religion.  As  King  of  the  Hellenes,  he  had 
to  be  George,  but  in  his  family  he  was  still  "  Wil 
lie." 

A  lady  spending  a  day  at  Dekeleia  was  asked 
to  "  Come  up-stairs  and  see  the  prettiest  thing  you 
ever  saw."  She  went  up,  and  there  was  the  Queen, 
giving  the  baby  its  evening  bath,  while  the  King 
looked  on  and  handed  sponges  and  towels.  Then 
the  other  children  were  put  to  bed,  and  their 
mother  went  around  and  kissed  them  all  good 
night,  making  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  each  one. 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

i 

The  Queen  was  a  devout  member  of  the  Greek 
Church,  but  the  King  clung  to  the  faith  of  his 
childhood;  or,  rather,  King  George  belonged  to  the 
Greek  Church:  "  Villee  "  was  a  Lutheran. 

Among  all  the  social  diversions  there  was  no 
lack  of  serious  occupation.  "  Peter  the  Great " 
was  finished  in  Athens  and  came  out  in  book  form. 


To  A.  A.  Adee. 

"  November  5,  1883. 

"  MY  DEAR  ADEE  :  I  have  been  feeling  of  late 
that  I  have  been  neglecting  you  —  officially  — 
but  I  have  always  remembered  that  it  is  far  more 
of  a  bore  for  you  to  read  a  despatch  than  it  is  for 
me  to  write  it,  and  I  have  thus  quieted  my  diplo 
matic  and  consular  conscience.  In  point  of  fact,  I 
have  been  working  very  hard  ever  since  the  first 
of  August  at  finishing  '  Peter  the  Great/  and  I 
have  sent  off,  on  the  average,  forty  8vo  pages  of 
print  a  week,  which  has  thus  relieved  the  Depart 
ment.  I  am  happy  to  say  that  this  great  feat  has 
been  accomplished,  and  I  think  you  will  (modesty 
of  no  account)  find  the  copy  I  shall  send  you  worth 
your  reading.  You  will  tell  me  afterwards.  But  on 
parting  from  this  companion  of  so  many  years,  I 
don't  quite  know  what  to  do  next,  and  to  keep  my 
self  from  having  brain  fever  and  to  cure  a  bad  cold — 
for  even  in  my  orange  and  lemon  garden,  with  my 
tame  owl  and  tortoise,  I  have  a  cold — I  am  going 

164 


A  MEMOIR 

to    Corfu   for  a   week,   leaving   the   newly   raised 
'  vexed  question  '    of  the  suppression  of  free  Bible 
distribution  until  my  return.     Perhaps  by  that  time 
I  shall  be  more  inclined  to  agree  with  the  Synod, 
and  think  it  even  worse  than  I  do  now.    .    .    . 
"  Pray  remember  me  to  all,  and  believe  me 
Yours  most  sincerely, 

EUGENE  SCHUYLER." 


To  A.  A.  Adee. 

"January  30,  1884. 

"  MY  DEAR  ADEE  :  I  have  ordered  my  publishers 
to  send  you  a  copy  of  my  '  Peter  the  Great.'  But 
I  can  scarcely  expect  you  to  read  it,  as  it  is  all 
prose  and  no  poetry.  You  will,  however,  I  hope, 
make  semblance  of  reading  it,  and  in  due  time  send 
me  a  little  compliment.  Just  now  I  am  working 
on  a  translation  of  some  old  Russian  travellers — one 
as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century  in  Constantinople 
before  the  Latin  conquest.  I  began  them  years 
ago. 

"  I  am  delighted  with  a  recent  circular  of  the  De 
partment,  asking  information  about  the  culture  of 
raisins,  figs,  olives,  etc.,  partly  because  it  revives 
all  my  old  botanical  tastes,  and  partly  because  it 
gives  me  occasion  for  various  petty  excursions  to 
the  islands.  I  shall  set  about  the  work  at  once,  and 
only  hope  I  can  do  it  justice;  not  that  I  expect 
much  from  Greek  agri-  and  arboriculture. 

"Another  thing,  too;    it  makes  me  put  an  end 

165 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

to  a  period  of  dissipation  which  has  lasted  too  long, 
beginning  with  the  daily  practice  of  the  mazurka 
in  our  salon  and  ending  with  an  afternoon  dance 
here,  in  which  the  Queen  and  the  Grand  Duke  Paul 
took  a  lively  part.  Did  I  say  ending?  I  have 
been  out  nearly  every  night  since,  and  that,  added 
to  dances  on  the  Russian  ships,  has  nearly  finished 
me.  I  absolutely  need  solitude  in  the  olive  groves 
with  Theocritus.  With  good  weather — we  have 
snow  here — there  is  nothing  like  that. 
Yours  most  sincerely, 

EUGENE  SCHUYLER." 

At  this  time  the  American  School  of  Archaeology 
at  Athens  was  in  its  infancy,  and  a  man  of  Mr. 
Schuyler's  tastes  could  not  fail  to  be  deeply  inter 
ested  in  its  success.  What  he  could  do  for  it,  he 
did,  more  in  the  way  of  moral  support  than  in  any 
other  way,  although  he  was  occasionally  able  to 
obtain  gifts  of  money.  He  wrote  in  April,  1883: 

'  The  school  is  getting  on  very  well,  and  fortu 
nately  some  excellent  Americans  have  been  here 
who  can  witness  to  its  utility.  Sturgis  is  here  now, 
as  well  as  Professor  Thayer  and  Professor  Green- 
ough,  of  Harvard.  ...  In  order  to  show  the 
good  feeling  of  the  Government  here,  Professor 
Goodwin  was  invited  twice  to  dine  at  Court,  and 
has  also  been  invited  to  the  balls  there." 


166 


A  MEMOIR 

One  of  the  last  pleasant  incidents  of  Mr.  Schuy- 
ler's  official  residence  in  Greece  was  a  series  of  short 
cruises  on  the  Undine,  a  little  yacht  which  he  hired 
for  a  time. 

"  I  have  just  got  back  from  another  cruise;  this 
time  to  the  Cyclades,  when  I  saw  something  of  six, 
the  prettiest  being  Tinos,  and  Karystos  on  the 
south  end  of  Euboea,  and  by  far  the  most  interest 
ing,  Delos.  In  its  utter  desolation  it  is  more  in 
teresting  to  me  than  Olympia;  but  then  it  was  the 
seat  of  a  finer  religion.  .  .  . 

"  The  proposed  abolition  of  this  Legation  is  mere 
ly  the  absurd  economy-cry.  The  Democrats  want  to 
save  $100,000  on  the  Consular  and  Diplomatic  Ser 
vice,  and  then  give  outright  a  million  to  the  New 
Orleans  Exposition  (which  promises,  however,  to 
be  very  remarkable,  and  you  may  find  it  worth  while 
going  there).  The  Department  of  State  has  taken 
up  the  defence  of  this  Mission,  saying  very  nice 
things  about  me  and  of  the  Service  generally  with 
unusual  warmth  and  energy.  The  Senate  has 
greatly  amended  the  House  bill,  and  it  now  remains 
to  see  what  will  be  done  in  the  Conference  Com 
mittee." 

To  Russell  Sturgis. 

"July  23,  1884. 

"  MY  DEAR  STURGIS  :  Consummatum  est.  .  .  . 
The  Diplomatic  Agency  at  Cairo  is  reduced  to  a 
simple  consulate.  The  Consul-General  at  Constan 
tinople  is  reduced  nearly  half,  and  is  no  longer  Sec- 

167 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

retary  of  Legation.  This  Legation  is  utterly  abol 
ished.  A  Consul-General  will  be  appointed  at 
Bucarest  at  $3,500  and  a  Consul  here  at  $2,500. 
The  total  saving  on  this  place  is  $1,000.  No  provis 
ion  is  made  for  any  officer  at  Belgrade.  So  far  as  I 
know,  I  am  legislated  out  of  official  existence;  for 
I  know  of  no  vacancy  where  I  can  be  stored  until 
wanted  for  future  use.  Therefore,  as  far  as  I  know, 
I  am  a  private  man  and  my  own  master.  I  don't 
so  much  object  to  the  situation  as  to  the  moment 
when  it  comes.  ...  I  have  a  house  on  my 
hands  up  to  the  middle  of  November.  Therefore, 
I  think  I  shall  stay  here  until  the  late  autumn.  At 
all  events,  I  have  a  house  over  my  head — my  books 
around  me;  I  can  pack  up  at  leisure,  and  perhaps 
do  a  little  work.  And  yet,  when  I  am  in  trouble 
and  perplexity,  I  find  it  very  hard  to  work.  It  is 
only  when  I  am  comfortable  and  prosperous  that 
my  brain  works  easily  and  that  my  hand  follows. 

"  Here  is  one  hardship.  Congress  passed  the  law 
July  6th,  to  take  effect  July  ist.  I  did  not  know  it 
till  the  i4th." 

When  the  letters  of  recall  came,  that  to  Serbia 
was  written  to  Prince  instead  of  King,  and  the  one 
to  Greece  to  the  King  of  Greece,  instead  of  King 
of  the  Hellenes.  They  had  to  be  sent  back,  caus 
ing  much  delay  and  annoyance.  Later  he  writes : 

"  I  am  on  my  way  to  Belgrade  and  Bucarest,  to 
take  leave  and  present  my  letters  of  recall.  It  is 

1 68 


A  MEMOIR 

an  expensive  journey,  and  at  the  present  time  un 
comfortable,  for  I  do  not  see  how  I  can  escape  a 
quarantine  on  returning.  However,  I  cannot  af 
ford  to  be  impolite,  even  if  the  Government  chooses 
to  be.  I  have  known  the  Kings  of  Serbia  and 
Roumania  since  1876,  and  they  have  always  been 
very  amiable  to  me.  The  Department  said  that  if 
it  were  inconvenient  to  present  my  letters  in  person 
I  could  send  them  to  the  Foreign  Offices.  But 
these  small  countries  are  very  sensitive — for  such 
a  proceeding  with  England  or  France  would  hardly 
be  remarked — and  I  am  patriotic  enough  to  wish 
to  soften  the  withdrawal  of  the  Mission  as  much  as 
possible,  even  at  my  own  expense.  I  shall  try  to 
get  repayment  out  of  the  Government,  but  have 
little  hope  of  it." 

This  had  been  a  very  happy  and  successful  period 
of  his  life.  A  dozen  years  later,  a  visitor  returning 
from  Athens  said:  "It  is  astonishing  how  the 
Schuylers  are  still  loved  and  lamented  there." 

VIII 

Mr.  Schuyler  returned  to  America  in  November, 
1884,  and  he  and  his  wife  established  themselves 
for  the  winter  in  Washington.  During  the  follow 
ing  year  he  delivered  at  Johns  Hopkins  and  Cornell 
Universities  the  lectures  afterwards  embodied  in  the 
book  entitled  "  American  Diplomacy,"  which  was 

published  in  1886. 

169 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

There  was  every  indication  that  if  he  had  chosen 
to  stay  in  America  and  resume  the  practice  of  the 
law,  his  peculiar  experience  and  training  would 
have  brought  him  an  important  practice.  His  de 
cision  to  leave  his  own  country  at  this  period  of  his 
career  was  an  error  of  judgment,  of  which  he  after 
wards  became  conscious.  But  literature  was  al 
ways  more  attractive  to  him  than  law;  and  he  longed 
for  the  out-of-door  life  of  a  southern  climate.  In 
March,  1886,  he  settled  in  Alassio,  on  the  Riviera, 
which  remained  his  head-quarters  until  he  went  to 
Cairo,  in  September,  1889. 

For  the  moment  the  restful  life  was  very  agree 
able.  The  villa,  Molino  di  Sopra,  was  a  pleasant 
place,  with  one  of  the  lovely  terraced  gardens  com 
mon  in  that  locality.  The  owners  of  the  villas 
about  Alassio  are  much  given  over  to  gardening, 
and  he  was  an  important  member  of  the  enthusiastic 
band.  He  had  gone  to  Alassio  mentally  and  physi 
cally  tired,  but  his  natural  elasticity  was  great  and 
the  surroundings  were  restorative.  He  soon  be 
gan  to  plan  literary  work,  and  to  feel  the  need  of 
getting  in  touch  with  people  and  things  in  Italy. 
In  June  he  wrote  from  Parma : 

"  I  am  on  a  little  journey.  It  seemed  to  me  that 
I  wras  not  quite  Italianised,  and  I  needed  to  see  more 
of  the  country  and  fall  into  Italian  ways  of  thought. 

170 


A  MEMOIR 

Out  on  the  edge,  in  Liguria,  we  see  too  many  for 
eigners  and  too  few  cultivated  natives.  .  .  . 
There  have  come  suggestions  to  my  mind  which 
may  turn  me  off  into  a  new  track.  For  somehow 
I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  write,  or  at  least 
to  study  for  writing  ultimately.  Taking  in  knowl 
edge  in  one  way,  working  it  over,  and  letting  it 
out  in  a  different  form  begins  to  attract  me  for  its 
own  sake." 

A  temporary  decrease  of  income  made  him  feel 
that  the  gap  must  be  filled  by  something  less  leis 
urely  than  literature,  and  he  made  an  arrangement 
with  the  New  York  Herald  for  occasional  corre 
spondence.  This  was  not  an  agreeable  step  to  take, 
and  he  only  did  it  from  a  sense  of  duty.  "  I  don't 
want,  but  our  income  has  been  reduced,  and  I 
must." 

About  the  same  time  he  was  spending  some  of 
his  time  in  looking  up  out-of-the-way  words  and 
their  definitions  for  the  "  Century  Dictionary,"  on 
which  his  friend,  Mr.  Russell  Sturgis,  was  engaged. 
This  was  a  pursuit  which  interested  and  amused 
him  greatly,  and  for  which,  with  his  stores  of  un 
usual  and  accurate  information,  he  was  peculiarly 
fitted. 

In  pursuance  of  his  arrangement  with  the  Herald 

he  spent  about  two  months  in  Vienna  in  the  early 

171 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

winter  of  1887.  One  of  the  interesting  events  of 
this  visit  was  the  meeting  with  the  Bulgarian  Depu 
tation  in  search  of  a  Prince.  They  told  him  that 
the  Prince  of  Coburg,  on  whom  their  choice  finally 
fell,  and  who  became  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria, 
had  never  occurred  to  them  until  suggested  by  him 
at  that  time. 

A  few  months  later  he  and  his  wife  were  stopping 
in  Mentone  at  the  time  of  the  famous  earthquake 
of  that  year. 

To  G.  Bakhmeteff. 

"ALASSIO,  March  10,  1887. 

"  MY  DEAR  JACK  :  Ever  since  your  telegram  I 
have  been  intending  to  write,  but  you  know  in  such 
times  one  can't  always  do  as  one  chooses. 

"We  had  gone  to  Mentone  for  a  dinner-party  with 
the  expectation  of  going  on  to  Nice  and  Cannes 
for  the  like.  The  very  morning  that  we  were  to 
breakfast  at  Nice  came  the  earthquake  at  six.  Of 
course  there  was  no  getting  off,  as  the  trains  were 
too  full  of  runaways.  So  the  next  day  we  came 
back  to  Alassio,  after  spending  five  hours  at  the 
station,  to  come  back  to  Italy  on  a  train  with  no 
passengers,  simply  because  the  fugitives  had  about 
6,000  trunks  at  the  station  bound  the  other  way, 
and  they  would  look  after  them  first.  As  no  tele 
grams  had  come,  we  supposed  Alassio  safe,  and  were 
much  surprised  on  arriving  to  find  that  the  whole 

172 


A  MEMOIR 

town  had  fallen  down,  but  the  villas  safe;  ours,  how 
ever — as  luck  will  be — the  worst  damaged.  To  go 
back — it  seems  an  age.  Having  seen  several  small 
earthquakes,  and  supposing  this  not  to  be  an  earth 
quake  region,  I  lay  calmly  in  bed,  happening  to  be 
awake  at  the  time,  wondering  when  it  was  going  to 
stop  .  .  .  and  then  when  part  of  the  front  of  the 
hotel  came  off,  G.  and  I  found  ourselves  under  the 
archway  of  the  door.  Somehow  I  had  managed  to 
put  some  clothes  on.  She  had  very  little.  We  went 
into  the  garden.  She  shivered  and  I  went  up  again, 
enjoying  the  view  of  the  distant  mountains  through 
the  fissures  in  the  walls,  to  get  some  more  clothes. 
Unluckily,  she  had  packed  up  the  night  before,  and 
it  was  very  hard  to  hit  on  anything.  I  had  my 
money  in  my  pocket;  diamonds  and  jewels  were  out 
of  the  question ;  but  I  seized  what  I  could,  even  the 
blankets  from  the  bed.  But  while  I  was  groping 
about  in  the  twilight  came  a  second  shock,  almost  as 
bad  as  the  first.  She  did — I  don't  know  what — in 
the  garden,  and  I — well,  imagine  anything  you  like. 
However,  I  got  down-stairs,  and,  although  we 
were  perfectly  safe,  we  followed  example  and  went 
to  the  Public  Gardens,  where  Howard  and  I  held 
up  a  blanket  and  She  put  on  a  dress,  and  then  my 
brilliant  yellow  and  brown  plaid  dressing-gown  from 
Vienna,  and  then  blankets  over  her  head.  Howard 
found  a  Kiosque;  they  gave  us  brandy  and  biscuits; 
we  revived  ourselves  and  then  others,  especially  one 
very  pretty  girl.  Then  we  went  back  to  the  hotel, 
had  coffee — the  strong-minded  servants  (though 

173 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

they  left  that  day)  wanted  to  know  if  we  wished 
hot  water,  baths,  etc.  We  packed  up  entirely  and 
left  nothing;  we  had  our  luggage  brought  down 
stairs,  and  then  went  to  see  how  our  friends  had 
fared.  (Our  friends  are  the  Andrews.  Him  you 
met  in  Athens;  she  is  Cyrus  Field's  daughter.) 
They  were  very  nervous;  their  house  was  unharmed, 
but  the  shock  had  gone  about  one  hundred  feet  the 
other  side.  A  number  of  people  already  there,  in 
cluding  a  Dresden  baroness,  a  grand-niece  of  Sir 
Walter  Scott,  and  two  very  shaky  old  New  Yorkers 
named  Watts.  We  took  coffee  again,  and  then  the 
third  shock  came,  when  we  preferred  the  dew  to 
the  coffee.  Andrews,  however,  was  very  calm,  re 
mained  up-stairs,  and  insisted  on  having  a  long, 
scientific  discussion  with  me,  and  refused  to  come 
down  till  he  chose,  or  let  his  carriage  take  the 
Watts  home,  lest  he  should  never  see  it  again. 
(The  Watts,  however,  got  home  and  took  their  nine 
o'clock  drive,  as  if  nothing  had  happened.)  Then 
a  sad  day.  We  couldn't  get  away;  we  went  to 
Rumpelmayer's,  had  kummel  and  bitters,  then  to 
see  the  ruins,  then  to  Rumpelmayer's,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 
The  telegraph  office  was  in  ruins;  an  office  rigged 
up  in  a  hotel  garden,  with  one  wire,  four  hundred 
English  women  and  men  waiting  to  send  telegrams. 
We — that  is,  Howard  and  I — couldn't  stand  it;  by 
great  good  luck  got  tickets,  went  to  Monte  Carlo, 
to  send  telegrams  and  postal-cards.  Of  course  we 
played  on  all  the  earthquake  numbers,  and,  strange 
to  say,  always  lost,  when  we  ought  to  have  won. 

174 


A  MEMOIR 

At  last  we  went  to  the  Grand  Hotel  to  dine,  and 
found  old  Admiral  Baldwin  and  his  wife  and  a  lot 
of  other  people  whom  we  knew.  At  Monte  Carlo 
there  had  been  only  an  uneasy  feeling,  and  they 
were  much  astonished  at  our  tales.  Finally,  in  de 
spair,  we  came  back  to  Mentone,  found  the  ground 
floor  of  the  Andrews'  villa  covered  with  beds,  and  a 
motley,  but  pleasant,  company.  Unfortunately,  at 
each  alarm  they  routed  us  out,  and  finally  we  were 
forbidden  to  go  back  to  the  house.  The  garden 
was  very  damp  and  cold.  Howard  sat  in  the  street 
in  front  of  a  fire  which  they  built  for  him,  and  we 
took  a  deserted  carriage  and  slept  for  three  hours. 
And  we  could  have  been  comfortable  indoors,  had 
we  known  it;  for  there  was  a  room  with  a  fire  and 
a  private  entrance  into  the  garden,  where  it  was 
very  cold  and  damp. 

"  We  could  stand  it  no  longer  and  made  up  our 
minds  to  come  back  to  Alassio  as  soon  as  possible, 
having  no  idea  as  to  its  state.  We  went  to  the  sta 
tion  at  about  nine,  but  there  was  such  an  accumula 
tion  of  luggage  that  we  couldn't  get  off  till  about 
two  o'clock.  The  farther  on  we  went,  the  more 
ruins  we  saw,  except  at  San  Remo,  which  is  intact, 
and  the  more  we  began  to  think  that  our  own 
house  had  fallen  down.  It  was  not,  however,  so 
bad  as  that.  Nearly  every  house  in  the  town  itself 
is  uninhabitable,  but  the  villas  are  safe  enough, 
though  the  walls  and  ceilings  of  our  bedrooms  are 
so  badly  cracked  that  we  are  sleeping  in  the  study, 
drawing-room,  and  dining-room.  The  rest  of  the 

175 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

population  was  in  the  fields,  or  a  few  favoured  ones 
in  railway  wagons.  Now  most  of  them  have  little 
wooden  huts.  At  last,  too,  they  have  begun  to  pull 
down  and  repair  the  town  where  it  is  possible. 
Here  there  were  only  three  old  women  killed,  but 
the  material  damage  is  very  great  and  falls  chiefly 
on  poor,  ruined,  decayed  gentlemen,  and  mezzo  ceto, 
who  get  a  scanty  living  from  the  rents  of  their 
houses  and  rooms.  Some  houses  had  as  many  as 
twenty  owners,  for  single  rooms  were  bought  and 
sold.  At  Diano  Marina,  not  far  off,  there  were 
over  two  hundred  killed,  and  every  house  is  down. 
All  must  be  blown  up  by  dynamite  and  rebuilt. 
Diano  Castello  is  just  as  bad,  but  the  loss  of  life  is 
less.  I  had  to  accompany  our  consul  to  these  places 
the  other  day  and  walk  through  the  whole.  I 
wished  him  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  for  we  had 
had  a  little  shake,  which  drove  us  from  the  break 
fast-table,  and  sent  down  walls  at  Diano,  nearly 
killing  two  soldiers.  One  couldn't  help  thinking 
that  another  shock  might  come  when  we  were  in 
the  middle  of  it  all. 

"  It  is  only  two  days  now  that  we  have  been  quite 
free  from  little  shocks,  and  I  think  even  with  this 
that  there  have  been  some  tremors.  We  cannot 
quite  get  reconciled  to  them;  and  when  the  pigeons 
all  fly  away  from  the  window-ledge  at  once  it  gives 
my  heart  such  a  quiver  as  makes  me  want  a  glass  of 
vodka.  At  the  same  time  we  don't  feel  equal  to  go 
ing  away,  unless  for  a  long  time,  and  that  we  cannot 
do  just  now.  Besides,  we  want  to  give  a  good  ex- 


A  MEMOIR 

ample  to  the  rest.  The  worst  of  it  is,  that  the 
shocks  came  chiefly  at  night,  and  seemed  to  prefer 
from  four  to  six  in  the  morning.  We  have  had  to 
put  all  our  clothes  near  the  door,  so  as  to  grab  them 
when  we  ran  out,  to  sleep  with  the  outside  door 
open,  with  lights  everywhere,  with  a  bottle  of 
brandy  and  water  already  mixed  in  the  garden, 
and  cold  bouillon  and  sandwiches  on  the  hall  table. 
We  devoutly  hope  that  you  will  never  have  such 
experiences  and  we  never  again.  .  .  . 
"  We  both  send  much  love. 

Ever  yours, 

EUGENE  SCHUYLER." 

"  On  reading  this  letter  over  to  Gertrude,  I  find  it 
very  mixed  and  repeating,  but  you  must  lay  that 
to  our  tremors  and  quivers. — E.  S. 

"  March  n,  j.jo  P.M. — I  was  just  going  to  close 
this  letter  ten  minutes  ago,  when  we  had  the  worst 
shock  we  have  had  since  the  first." 

The  strain  of  living  for  several  months  with  con 
tinual  shocks  of  earthquake  and  continual  expec 
tation  of  worse  ones  was  greater  than  appeared  at 
the  time,  and  left  him  somewhat  run  down.  From 
Castrocaro,  where  he  went  for  a  course  of  baths,  he 
wrote : 

"  I  amuse  myself  with  reading,  even  in  my  bath. 
Byron's  and  Shelley's  poems  took  me  to  their  lives, 
and   Landor's  Life  has  taken   me  to  his  poems. 
VOL.  I.— 12  177 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

How  wonderful  Gebir  and  Count  Julian  are !  Now 
I'd  like  to  read  a  little  of  Southey,  but  he  seems 
so  very  dead  that  he  is  not  even  in  Vieusseux.  I 
remember  about  things  which  I  read  years  ago  and 
liked.  I  have  also  read  the  greater  part  of  Moore's 
poems,  and  want  now  to  get  hold  of  his  Journals. 
I  must  try  Wordsworth,  though  I  rather  hate  the 
thought.  I  am  now  in  Lady  Blessington's  novels, 
having  read  three  volumes  of  her  life  and  letters. 
Dickens  comes  next.  The  fact  is,  that  all  these  peo 
ple  knew,  and  most  of  them  either  loved  or  hated 
one  another,  and  thus  I  am  led  on,  and  all  because 
I  saw  Byron's  and  Shelley's  houses  at  Pisa  last 
April." 

A  little  later  he  wrote  from  Alassio: 

"  Of  late  I  am  entirely  devoted  to  Italian  history 

and  memoirs  of  the  early  part  of  this  century 

For  serious  reading  I  have  a  canto  of  Dante  every 
morning  before  my  bath  and  tea.  Longfellow's 
translation  amuses  me  very  much.  You  cannot 
possibly  understand  it  unless  you  have  read  the 
original.  I  dare  say  that  at  first  it  was  very  good, 
but  that  little  Dante  Club  sat  on  it  every  week, 
until  they  quite  squashed  all  the  poetry,  and  even 
the  verse  out  of  it.  ... 

"  In  reality,  I  am  lazy  by  nature,  and  yet  I  am 
never  so  happy  as  when  hard  at  work.  But  I  like 
to  get  off  quickly  what  I  have  in  my  head,  and 
writing  bothers  me.  I  really  can't  do  much  with- 

178 


A  MEMOIR 

out  a  shorthand  writer  and  clerk,  and  that  here  is 
impossible.  Indeed,  I  fear  that  I  need  a  good  deal, 
and  was  looking  back  with  delight  to  Athens  at  the 
time  I  was  finishing  '  Peter.'  I  must  have,  in  ad 
dition,  a  good  study,  with  my  man  in  the  next 
room,  table,  lights,  many  books,  etc.;  then  mild 
weather,  so  that  I  can  get  up  early,  and  finally  a 
country  not  so  hilly  as  this,  with  a  carriage,  and 
facilities  for  making  excursions  where  I  can  stay  a 
day  or  two,  when  I  always  read  greatly.  Here  I 
have  most  of  this,  except  the  carriage  and  the  level 
country.  It  is  a  bore  always  to  walk  up  and  down 
hill." 

The  early  summer  of  1888  found  him  in  Bologna, 
attending  the  festivities  in  honour  of  the  eight  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  the  university.  On  this  oc 
casion  he  represented  Yale,  Columbia,  Johns  Hop 
kins,  and  Cornell  Universities  and  the  State  Univer 
sity  of  Iowa.  His  detailed  description  of  the  com 
memorative  ceremonies  was  sent  to  the  New  York 
Nation,  and  his  private  letters  contain  only  jottings. 
From  Bologna  he  went  on  by  short  stages  to  Ven 
ice,  picking  up  material  for  the  series  of  short  arti 
cles  which  he  was  at  this  time  writing. 

"  I  had  six  delightful  weeks  at  Venice,  two  days 
at  Bassano  and  Possagno,  a  fortnight  at  Salo,  on 
Lago  di  Garda,  and  a  week  at  Brescia,  which  pleased 

179 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

us  very  much.  Gertrude  and  I  are  studying  up 
Lady  Mary  Wortley's  *  Italian  Life,'  and  we  have 
seen  some  pleasant  places  and  made  some  agreeable 
acquaintances  in  consequence.  .  .  . 

"  The  Nation  has  let  you  know  from  time  to  time 
where  I  have  been  and  what  I  have  been  doing. 
They  have  three  or  four  articles  still  on  hand,  and 
1  have  as  many  more  nearly  ready.  It  has  amused 
me  to  write  them,  and  especially  to  read  up  for 
them;  for  each  of  them  represents  two  or  three 
thousand  pages  of  reading,  and  some  of  them  have 
been  in  outline  in  my  head  for  a  year  and  more. 
Indeed,  I  have  read  more  English  literature  and 
more  real  literature  in  general  than  for  many,  many 
years  before.  And  I  have  enjoyed  it,  too! 

"  On  the  whole,  I  am  more  than  usually  satisfied 
with  myself.  I  have  told  you  what  to  think  about 
Bulgaria  in  two  articles  in  the  New  Princeton  Re- 
view  (for  which  or  for  some  other  reason  I  have 
received  the  Grand  Cordon  of  the  Bulgarian  order 
of  St.  Alexander),  I  have  enlightened  you  on  our 
Consular  Service  in  The  America  of  Chicago,  and 
on  Mr.  Bayard  anent  of  '  Marriages  Abroad  '  in 
the  North  American,  besides  three  stories,  which 
repose  and  will  long  repose  in  manuscript.  At 
present  I  am  trying  to  enlighten  you  on  the  ad 
vantages  of  Commercial  Treaties,  and  on  the  rela 
tions  of  the  Pope  to  the  Italian  Government.  For 
lighter  work  I  have  Canova,  Corinne,  Ruskin,  Mrs. 
Browning,  and  Smollett,  not  to  speak  of  others  on 
the  stocks  or  in  them." 

1 80 


A  MEMOIR 

The  political  situation  in  America  interested 
him  greatly,  and  in  November  he  wrote :  "  Things 
happen  just  now  to  be  in  that  state  that  our  for 
eign  policy  during  the  next  ten  years  will  make  a 
great  point  in  the  history  of  the  nation."  And 
again,  December  3oth : 

"  I  am  writing  out  some  of  my  ideas  about  for 
eign  policy,  but  I  shall  probably  send  the  article 
to  the  North  American,  as  it  will  be  too  long  for 
a  mere  newspaper.  I  am  working  also  at  one  or 
two  shorter  things  on  the  same  subject  or  similar 
ones.  I  don't  exactly  like  to  write  anything  for 
the  Post,  simply  for  the  purpose  of  being  refuted. 
It  seems  to  me  as  if  you  all  had  chosen  to  typify 
all  that  seemed  to  you  most  objectionable  in  the 
single  person  of  Elaine,  regardless  of  whether  he 
really  possesses  all  of  these  characteristics.  It 
seemed  to  me  during  the  campaign  that  Godkin 
weakened  his  case  by  harping  too  much  on  Elaine 
and  his  wickedness.  I  fear  that  you  are  all  too 
busy  in  America  to  get  interested  in  more  than 
one  or  two  issues  at  a  time;  and  now  that  you  all 
go  in  for  tariff  reform  and  civil-service  reform,  you 
forget  that  a  nation  as  great  as  ours  has  other 
duties  and  interests  which  must  also  be  looked 
after." 

When,  in  March,  1889,  Mr.  Elaine  was  made 
Secretary  of  State,  he  offered  the  Assistant  Secre 
taryship  to  Mr.  Schuyler  by  telegraph.  The  latter 

181 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

had  been  hoping  that  a  foreign  mission  would 
reinstate  him  in  the  Diplomatic  Service,  and  this 
appointment  took  him  entirely  by  surprise.  The 
pay  was  very  small,  the  work  was  hard,  and  the 
expenses  were  great;  but  in  every  other  respect  the 
position  was  attractive  to  him,  and  he  telegraphed 
his  acceptance,  and  at  once  began  his  preparations 
for  departure.  In  a  few  days  came  another  tele 
gram  from  Mr.  Elaine,  asking  him  to  refuse  the 
nomination,  offering  a  European  post,  and  promis 
ing  explanations  by  letter.  There  was  but  one 
thing  to  do — to  comply  with  the  request  and  await 
the  explanation.  While  awaiting  it,  he  wrote: 

"  Perhaps  a  great  favour  is  done  me,  perhaps  I 
am  sacrificed  in  an  ingenious  way.  But  I  can't  help 
myself.  ...  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  four 
years  of  Washington,  and  Washington  life,  which 
I  love,  with  all  its  surprises  and  opportunities,  and 
am  therefore  disappointed.  I  had  hoped,  perhaps, 
to  make  some  reforms,  and  do  a  little  good  to  the 
country,  as  well  as  to  help  a  few  deserving  people 
and  do  something  to  raise  the  consular  standard. 
For  all  that,  I  was  willing  to  make  some  sacrifices, 
though  I  feared  that  it  would  end  in  my  financial 
ruin.  I  shall  now  probably  be  able  to  go  on  with 
the  mild  literary  work,  to  which  I  have  taken  a 
liking,  and  shall  be  in  every  way  more  indepen 
dent." 

182 


A  MEMOIR 

The  opposition  to  his  confirmation,  which  was 
the  cause  of  the  withdrawal  of  his  nomination, 
was  generally  supposed  to  have  been  caused  by  the 
fact  that  in  his  "  American  Diplomacy  "  he  had 
made  certain  statements  concerning  the  official  ac 
tions  of  a  man  who  had  at  one  time  held  a  high 
office  in  the  Government.  In  point  of  fact,  while 
this  was  one  of  the  causes,  his  connection  with  the 
bill  uniting  the  offices  of  Secretary  of  Legation  and 
Consul-General  at  Rome  was  possibly  an  even  more 
important  factor.  In  spite  of  his  philosophy  and 
his  mental  resources,  it  would  be  useless  to  deny 
that  he  was  disappointed  and  for  a  time  depressed. 
He  never  did  deny  it — he  only  made  the  best  of  it. 

In  connection  with  this  appointment  there  were 
some  touching  incidents.  He  received  a  large 
number  of  letters  and  petitions  from  Armenians, 
reminding  him  of  his  services  to  humanity  at  the 
time  of  the  Bulgarian  massacres,  and  begging  him, 
now  that  he  was  to  be  in  power,  to  induce  the 
United  States  Government  to  interpose  in  behalf 
of  the  oppressed  Armenians.  Perhaps  nothing 
went  to  his  heart  more  than  his  powerlessness  to 
respond  to  these  appeals. 

As  to  the  promised  European  post,  he  wrote : 

"  Think  of  my  uncertainty — anywhere  from  To 
bolsk  to  Tangiers.  We  have  settled  ourselves  in 

183 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

imagination  in  Paris,  Frankfurt,  Athens,  Constan 
tinople,  Cairo,  and  even  Calcutta.  We  live  a  day 
in  each  in  turn." 

To  Herbert  Tuttlc. 

"ALASSIO,  May   11,  1889. 

"  MY  DEAR  TUTTLE  :  Many  thanks  for  your  let 
ter  of  April  27th,  which  came  this  morning.  The 
'  Schuyler  incident '  requires  some  work  to  ex 
plain;  but  I  have  every  confidence  in  Mr.  Elaine's 
wishes  and  intentions,  and  I  hope  that  will  justify 
us. 

"  Briefly  thus :  I  had  asked  for  a  diplomatic  post, 
especially  the  Roman  mission.  To  my  surprise, 
I  was  offered  by  telegraph  the  Assistant  Secretary 
ship,  my  chief  friend  being  notified  at  the  same 
time.  There  was  a  reason,  and  the  offer  was  seri 
ous.  Aside  from  what  Mr.  B knew  about 

me  before,  I  had  an  opportunity  in  Rome  last 
spring,  though  a  private  man,  and  not  having 
been  there  for  eight  years,  to  manage  for  him  one 
or  two  little  diplomatic  matters  that  no  one  in  the 
Legation  was  able  to  do. 

"  The  objections  against  me  on  the  part  of  certain 
senators  were  not  political,  but  from  such  petty, 
trifling,  personal  reasons,  that,  had  I  been  in  Wash 
ington,  I  could  have  stopped  it  all  by  threatening 
to  tell  the  true  cause.  But  even  had  I  started  I 

should  have  been  too  late.  Mr.  B asked  me 

by  telegram  to  decline,  not  saying  why,  and  prom 
ising  me  a  European  post.  This  I  did.  Had  I 

184 


A  MEMOIR 

known  of  the  Senate  opposition  to  me,  I  should 
have  declined  sooner  for  a  patriotic  reason :  it  is  es 
sential  to  the  success  of  an  administration  that  the 
State  Department  and  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations  should  work  well  together. 
Now  Sherman,  the  chairman,  is,  or  has  been,  a 
rival  of  Blaine;  while  Edmunds  has  not  for  years 
been  on  speaking  terms  with  him.  I  could  not 
properly,  by  fighting  for  a  confirmation,  increase 
this  tension. 

"  If  Mr.  Blaine  offers  me  a  place  that  I  can  accept, 
as  he  has  promised  others,  as  well  as  myself,  that 
he  will  do,  I  shall  come  to  America  in  the  winter, 
and  I  have  no  doubt  of  my  confirmation  if  I  am  on 
the  spot,  though  I  may  have  to  show  fight.  I  am 
willing  to  accept  one  or  two  places  that  would 
otherwise  be  unacceptable,  simply  for  the  purpose 
of  setting  myself  right  before  the  public. 

"  I  have  been  doing  a  great  deal  of  work,  and 
writing,  with  the  great  amount  of  reading  neces 
sarily  involved,  is  now  my  chief  amusement.  The 
Nation  still  has  five  of  my  Italian  articles  on  hand, 
besides  some  reviews,  including  a  long  one  of 
Mme.  de  Stael.  You  have  probably  seen  one  of 
my  articles  on  Tolstoy  (as  he  wrote  his  name)  in 
Scribner's  for  May,  and  you  will  find  one  which 
will  interest  you  on  '  American  Marriages  Abroad  ' 
in  the  North  American  for  April.  Every  once  in 
awhile  the  old  habit  comes  over  me,  and  I  write, 
what  would  once  have  been  a  report  or  despatch 
to  the  Department.  .  .  ." 

185 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

To  Mrs.  Schaeffer. 

"ALASSIO,  May  25,    1889. 

"  MY  DEAR  EVA  :  It  rejoices  me  that  you  have 
liked  my  Tolstoy  article.  I  hope  to  follow  it  up 
with  some  more,  but  they  will  not  have  that  in 
terest  of  actuality,  nor  will  they  give  much,  if  any, 
of  my  personal  experience.  One  is  written,  though 
not  corrected,  called  Corinne,  which  is  an  account 
of  one  of  Mme.  de  StaeTs  flirtations  (I  have  al 
ready  sent  a  review  to  the  Nation  on  Lady  Blenner- 
hasset's  life  of  her);  Lady  M.  W.  Montagu,  that 
I  have  been  preparing  for  ever  since  last  summer; 
and  perhaps  Gorilla,  the  improvisatrice,  with 
Florentine  and  Roman  life  in  the  last  century. 
Also  'Two  Petty  Sovereigns':  i,  Napoleon,  Lord 
of  Elba;  2,  Marie  Louise,  Duchess  of  Parma. 

"  Here  is  a  list  of  small  subjects.  If  you  want 
anything  done  quickly,  say  so,  as  I  am  blown 
about  by  every  wind.  They  all  enter  into  the  cadre 
of  my  '  Italian  Influences '  (don't  mention  that 
title):  Pisa,  Leigh  Hunt;  Florence,  George  Eliot, 
Countess  of  Albany;  Rome,  Lady  Blessington, 
Queen  Christina,  Hans  Christian  Andersen,  Cha 
teaubriand,  Thorwaldsen;  Bologna,  Lady  Morgan, 
Rogers;  Chiozzia,  Goldoni;  Venice,  G.  P.  R. 
James,  Cooper,  Ruskin,  Moore;  Mantua,  Sordel- 
lo;  Naples,  Alexandre  Dumas.  Also  somewhere 
Stendhal,  N.  P.  Willis,  and  Miss  Sedgwick, 
Madame  Mere  (Bonaparte);  Ugo  Foscolo,  Ros 
sini,  Metastasio,  etc.,  etc.  The  list  is  very  easy  to 

186 


A  MEMOIR 

extend.  I  have  just  sent  off  an  article  on  Haw 
thorne.  That  on  Smollett  will  be  published  at 
once.  I  don't  know  why  I  should  inflict  all  this 
on  you,  except  that  it  is  pleasant  to  talk  about 
what  I  am  interested  in  just  now  more  than  any 
thing  else.  .  .  ." 

On  July  2,  1889,  while  on  a  visit  to  Zurich,  he 
received  the  announcement  of  his  appointment  as 
Diplomatic  Agent  and  Consul-General  at  Cairo. 
He  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  It  is  like  beginning  a  new 
career." 

To  Herbert  Tuttle. 

"  ZURICH,  July  23,  1889. 

"  MY  DEAR  TUTTLE  :  Many  thanks  for  your  con 
gratulations  and  your  letter  of  July  7th.  Cairo 
was  one  of  the  places  I  had  expressed  a  willingness 
to  take,  and  even  a  preference  for,  over  Athens 
again.  You  understand,  what  is  not  so  well  known 
in  America,  that  over  here  the  post  is  rated  as  of 
first  importance,  that  the  Agent  ranks  as  Minister, 
and  that  it  is  a  place  of  great  political  interest. 
After  seeing  the  intrigues  of  Oriental  powers  like 
Russia,  England,  and  Turkey,  it  will  be  interesting 
to  witness  those  of  Western  powers  on  Eastern 
soil.  I  shall  regret  being  cut  off  from  libraries,  and 
I  hope  that  I  shall  not  be  bitten  with  the  mania  for 
Egyptology,  almost  thinking  to  take  up  the  study 
of  the  Alexandrine  period  in  self-defence. 

"  By  the  way,  in  coming  to  Switzerland  on  a  semi- 
187 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

literary  journey,  I  have  in  full  view  daily  here  the 
house  in  which  Bluntschli  was  born,  and  have 
visited  Neuchatel,  the  early  home  of  Vatel.  In 
general,  my  Swiss  tour  has  been  very  fertile,  and 
something  may  yet  come  of  it.  I  have  been  par 
ticularly  interested  in  the  bearing  of  the  Swiss  dur 
ing  this  last  crisis.  I  saw  many  old  friends  among 
the  diplomats  at  Berne,  and  had  quite  a  talk  with 
Droz,  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  .  .  . 

"  I  shall  leave  for  Egypt  about  the  end  of  August. 
Probably  I  shall  come  to  America  to  see  about  my 
confirmation,  in  which  case  I'll  see  you.  You'll 
find  in  the  September  number  of  the  Political  Sci 
ence  Quarterly  a  short  article  of  mine  on  Italian 
immigration.  With  regards  to  Mrs.  Tuttle, 
Yours  ever, 

EUGENE  SCHUYLER." 

Even  in  the  pleasure  of  a  return  to  the  profession 
which  he  preferred,  he  did  not  disengage  himself 
from  literary  interests.  A  letter  written  while  he 
was  still  in  Zurich  contains  the  following  outline  of 
a  projected  work : 

'  To  amuse  you  and  show  you  that  my  mind  has 
not  been  idle,  I  send  a  prospectus  of  my  proposed 
book.  22-24  I  have  not  yet  visited,  and  I  should 
like  to  make  royalty  complete  by  adding  Prangins, 
with  Jerome  Napoleon,  his  father  and  mother, 
whose  diary  is  just  being  published.  You  see  that 
I  have  a  good  deal  of  work  cut  out,  but  I  have  so 

188 


A  MEMOIR 

much  material  that  with  a  shorthand  writer  it  would 
go  very  fast.  In  treating  of  the  reformers,  I  shall 
take  a  modified  Catholic  view,  which  has  not  been 
done  in  English  with  the  new  lights;  but  I  should 
tell  of  their  private  lives,  etc.,  rather  than  of  their 
religious  ideas. 

"  Does  it  look  like  a  book  that  you  or  any  one 
else  would  want  to  read?  " 

Swiss  ASSOCIATIONS. 

I.  Geneva  in    1816   (Byron,    Stae'l,   Shelley, 

Countess  Bruce,  etc.,  etc.). 
II.  Geneva — Calvin  and  the  Heretics. 

III.  Coppet — Benjamin  Constant. 

IV.  Geneva — Bonstettin. 
V.  Geneva — Voltaire,  etc. 

VI.  Chillon — Bonivard  and  Peter  of  Savoy. 
VII.  Lausanne — Madame    de    Charriere,   Gib 
bon,  etc. 

VIII.  Payerm — The  two  Jominis. 
IX.  Yverdon — Pestalozzi  and  Education. 
X.  Neuchatel — Rousseau. 
XL  Geneva — Toppfer,    Cherbuliez,  Zschokke, 

and  Swiss  Novelists. 
XII.  Berne  in  the  Eighteenth  Century. 
XIII.  Basel — Erasmus  and  Paracelsus. 
XIV.  Sackingen — Schleppel. 
XV.  Constanz — John    Huss    and    Pan-Slavic 

Patriotism. 

XVI.  St.   Gall— Gustavus  IV.   (very  affecting). 
189 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

XVII.  St.  Gall — Vadian,  Kenler,  and  his  funny 

adventure  with  Luther. 
XVIII.  Zurich— Zwingli. 

XIX.  Zurich — Lavater,  the  pietist  and  physiog 
nomist,  the  Russians,  and  the  French. 
XX.  Rapperschwyl — Koszciuszko. 
XXI.  Rapperschwyl — Caroline  Bauer  and  Leo 
pold  I.  and  Stockmar. 
XXII.  Einsiedeln. 

XXIII.  Chur  and  Louis  Philippe. 

XXIV.  Arenenberg  and  Louis  Napoleon,  the  Don 

Juan  of  Canton  Thurgau. 
XXV.  Luzerne— William  Tell. 


IX 

Mr.  Schuyler  did  not  reach  Cairo  until  October 
ist,  owing  to  delays  about  his  papers.  It  seemed 
wiser,  in  consideration  of  possible  difficulties  about 
confirmation,  to  keep  the  house  in  Alassio  for  an 
other  year,  and  Mrs.  Schuyler  decided  to  remain 
there  for  a  time,  especially  as  they  were  expecting 
to  go  to  America  later  in  the  season.  This  journey 
was  finally  given  up,  but  in  view  of  the  uncertain 
ties  of  the  situation,  he  did  not  settle  himself  in  any 
permanent  way;  and  his  Cairo  house  remained  only 
half  furnished.  He  had  with  him,  as  Vice  and 
Deputy  Consul,  a  nephew,  to  whom  he  was  much 
attached. 


190 


A  MEMOIR 

"  CAIRO,  October  14,  1889. 

"  MY  DEAR  EVELYN  :  Your  letter  of  September 
1 3th  came  to  me  here,  where  I  arrived  ten  days 
ago,  after  being  obliged  to  spend  a  few  days  in 
Alexandria.  It  seems  much  the  same  as  ever,  and 
I  have  not  yet  tired  of  looking  at  the  people.  But 
the  moist  heat  at  this  season,  when  the  Nile  is 
overflowed,  and  the  consequent  flies,  mosquitoes, 
etc.,  beggar  all  description.  I  have  to  attend  to 
work,  to  make  official  calls,  and  to  bother  about 
the  house,  but  it  is  far  too  hot  even  to  look  at  rugs 
and  portieres.  That  will  come  later. 

"  Louis1  has  been  appointed  my  Vice  and  Dep 
uty,  and  I  shall  hurry  to  have  him  here,  as  I  have 
no  one  at  all  to  write  or  copy  for  me.  .  .  .  My 
predecessor  .  .  .  took  the  house  before  I 
came,  owing  to  the  stupid  blunders  which  delayed 
me.  It  does  not  quite  suit  me,  but  we  can  manage 
to  live  in  it,  especially  with  our  pretty  garden, 
which  we  hope  to  make  still  prettier.  I  am  going 
to  furnish  a  bedroom  temporarily  and  take  up  my 
abode  there,  for  the  hotel  is  too  expensive.  The 
house,  being  built  by  a  Turk  or  Arab,  is  full  of 
absurd,  useless  passages,  so  as  to  allow  women  and 
servants  to  disappear  in  every  direction.  Not  to 
speak  of  the  ground  floor,  where  I  must  create  a 
kitchen,  we  have  on  the  first  floor  two  halls,  four 
passages,  two  staircases,  a  coffee-kitchen,  a  Turk 
ish  bath,  various  closets,  etc.,  a  large  salon,  and 
four  other  good  rooms,  besides  one  which  will  serve 

1  His  nephew,  Louis  Bedell  Grant. 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

for  the  servants'  dining-room.  On  the  floor  above 
are  seven  good  rooms,  besides  four  passages,  etc. 
My  present  household  consists  of  the  first  Janissary, 
Suleiman,  a  light-colored  Arab,  in  a  gorgeously 
embroidered  costume,  speaking  English;  the 
second  Janissary  nominally,  but  really  a  very  good 
body-servant,  the  blackest  nigger  you  ever  saw,  in 
similar  attire,  named  Farak,  brought  from  the 
Soudan  by  Gordon,  and  trained  by  Lady  Vivian; 
a  boab,  or  gate-keeper,  named  Ali;  and  a  gardener 
called  Abdullah.  All  these  more  or  less  paid  by 
the  Government.  Then  we  shall  bring  Francesco 
and  Barbara,  and,  of  course,  have  a  cook.  Last 
wrinter,  as  Cardwell  says,  about  five  hundred  Amer 
icans  called  at  the  Consulate,  and  the  year  before 
about  twelve  hundred.  And  as  the  season  lasts 
from  four  to  six  months,  that  alone  gives  work. 

"  But  I  am  hungry,  this  being  7  A.M.,  before  my 
bath,  so  good-by. 

Ever  affectionately, 

EUGENE." 

To  his  Wife. 

"CAIRO,  Monday,  November  25,  1889. 
".  .  .  This  week  has  gone  like  a  flash,  and  has 
been  so  taken  up  that  I  have  had  time  for  nothing. 
First,  it  was  necessary  to  instal  Louis;  then  there 
have  been  lots  of  Americans  who  wanted  things; 
and  finally,  on  Saturday,  I  was  received  by  the 
Khedive.  Everybody  says  that  it  was  a  very  fine 
ceremony,  but  being  inside  a  gilt  coach,  drawn  by 

192 


A  MEMOIR 

six  horses,  with  an  escort  of  cavalry,  Louis  and 
Lynch  (whom  I  had  temporarily  attached)  follow 
ing  in  another,  I  didn't  see  much  of  it.  But  there 
were  salutes  of  cannon  (twenty-one  guns)  from  the 
citadel,  and  the  band  played  "  Hail,  Columbia." 
My  suite  were  much  impressed  with  my  demeanor, 
especially  Louis,  and  the  hotel  was  crowded  with 
spectators.  We  made  our  little  speech,  then  we 
sat  down  and  smoked  jewelled  tchibouks  about  ten 
feet  long,  which  were  arranged  with  such  mathe 
matical  precision  that  I  could  scarcely  keep  from 
laughing,  as,  including  the  whole  Cabinet,  we  were 
about  twenty  people.  Then  coffee  in  jewelled  cups 
or  cup-holders;  and  then  as  I  went  away  a  sword 
was  hung  over  my  shoulders.  The  master  of  cere 
monies  accompanied  me  back  and  came  in.  Then 
the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs  called  in  state.  A 
special  salon,  coffee,  and  cigarettes.  Then  five 
minutes  afterwards  we  went  in  state  (Suleiman  hav 
ing  new  clothes  and  sword  for  the  occasion)  to  call 
on  the  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  That  night 
we  were  at  a  friend's  to  see  a  dance  of  Arabs,  and 
yesterday  I  was  so  used  up  that  we  took  refuge 
with  the  Pyramids  and  the  Sphinx,  and  had  a  nice 
lunch  there.  All  this  morning  we  have  been  mak 
ing  official  calls,  and  have  been  working  hard  all 
the  afternoon. 


VOL.  I.— 13  193 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

To  Mrs.  Schacffer. 

"  THE  NILE,  NEAR  MARAGHA,  January  17,  1890. 

"  MY  DEAR  EVA  :  Receiving  two  letters  from 
you  makes  me  think  that  it  is  very  long  since  I 
wrote  to  you.  Of  course  here  in  a  dahabiyeh  I 
don't  have  all  the  distracting  occupations  and  wor 
ries  of  Cairo,  but  I  find  that  reading,  work,  sight 
seeing,  and  a  rough  sea  like  the  present  interfere 
with  letter-writing.  In  fact,  the  Nile  life  does  not 
come  up  to  my  ideal,  especially  as  we  have  gener 
ally  had  too  cold  winds  to  sit  on  deck,  and  the  sun 
has  not  always  shone.  The  trip  has  been  an  in 
teresting  one,  but  I  have  had  enough  of  tombs  and 
temples,  of  mud  towns,  and  native  visitors.  How 
ever,  I  have  had  a  rest,  and  have  accomplished  my 
consular  inspection.  I  feel  as  if  I  were  beginning 
to  know  something  about  Egypt.  To-day  we  are 
bored  by  the  strong  head  wind,  as  we  are  in  a  hurry 
to  get  to  Assiout,  where  I  shall  probably  take  the 
railway  to  Cairo,  as  I  ought  to  be  there  for  the 
dinner  to  Stanley  on  the  2Oth.  I  am  the  guest  of 
a  San  Francisco  friend,  Mr.  Jeremiah  Lynch,  on 
this  good  dahabiyeh  Vittoria.  .  .  . 

"  Since  I  have  been  in  Egypt  I  have  had  no  time 
to  write  anything  but  official  reports;  but  even 
those  I  have  tried  to  make  entertaining,  and  all 
have  been  complimented.  I  have  been  up  here 
working  on  a  big  one  on  '  Irrigation.'  And  yet  I 
am  boiling  over  with  subjects  and  information,  and 
desire  to  write,  but  I  can't  find  the  time.  I  believe 

194 


A  MEMOIR 

that  I  could  get  off  three  long  articles  in  the  next 
week  if  I  only  had  a  good  shorthand  writer  always 
at  hand.  I  brought  up  a  lot  of  books  and  material 
with  me,  chiefly  so  as  not  to  run  too  much  in  one 
groove.  But  the  only  poetry  I  have  read  was  Pa 
racelsus  on  the  day  of  Browning's  funeral.  I  had 
read  it  already  twice  since  getting  interested  again 
in  Paracelsus  himself  when  I  was  at  Einsiedeln  and 
Basel.  As  was  natural,  my  reading  has  been  chiefly 
on  Egyptian  subjects — books  of  all  kinds  and  de 
scriptions.  So  far  as  I  have  yet  got,  about  the 
best  book  of  travel  on  the  Nile  is  Miss  A.  B.  Ed- 
wards's  '  A  Thousand  Miles  up  the  Nile/  though 
she  is  too  wordy  and  gushing.  Her  article  on  Bu- 
bastis  in  the  last  Century  is  very  good.  As  she  is 
now  lecturing  in  America,  you  may  see  her. 

"  I  have  also  been  trying  to  read  Ebers's  novels, 
but  I  find  them  rather  tough.  I  am  only  three- 
quarters  deep  in  the  '  Egyptian  Princess,'  though 
'  Uarda '  looks  better.  Still  the  '  E.  P.'  was  his 
first  attempt.  The  most  romantic  things  I  have 
read  are  the  Biblical  accounts  of  the  Egyptian  Jews. 
If  you  can  read  the  story  of  Joseph  without  preju 
dice,  you  will  find  it  great  fun.  He  was  such  a 
fearful  Jew,  especially  when  he  made  Pharaoh  pro 
prietor  of  all  the  land.  His  successors  have  main 
tained  this  monopoly  ever  since.  And  the  gen 
eral  wiliness  of  everybody  before  and  during  the 
plagues,  which  really  occur  every  year!  .  .  . 
Truth  compels  me  to  state,  that  being  obliged  to 
use  glasses  to  read,  I  bought  a  big-print  Bible  of 

195 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

the  Missionaries  especially  for  the  trip.  My  great 
regret  is,  that  it  does  not  contain  the  Apocrypha. 
I  have  picked  up  a  few  stray  bits  of  information; 
as  finding  that  Jeremiah  wrote  his  *  Lamenta 
tions  '  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Cairo,  in  a  vil 
lage  now  called  Matarieh,  the  ancient  Heliopolis. 
When  I  was  there  I  did  not  know  this,  though  I 
did  know  that  Moses,  Pythagoras,  Plato,  and 
Euclid  had  studied  there,  and  Herodotus  had 
stayed  there.  By  the  way,  I  hope  you  like  my 
seal,  which  is  an  old  cornelian  scarab — say  5,000 
years  old — bearing  the  name  or  cartouche  of  King 
Usurbasen  I.  I  don't  go  in  for  such  things,  but 
this  was  given  to  me,  and  I  rather  like  it,  now  that 
I  know  that  this  king  built  the  obelisk  at  Hieropo- 
lis,  which  must  have  been  seen  and  admired  by  all 
the  gentlemen  just  named,  not  to  speak  of  Joseph. 
Close  by  the  obelisk  is  a  big  sycamore-tree,  under 
which  the  Holy  Family  rested  during  the  flight. 
It  is  surrounded  with  a  fence,  and  a  knife  is  pro 
vided  for  visitors  to  carve  their  names  thereon, 
provided  they  do  not  touch  the  tree.  .  .  . 
"  Much  love  to  you  all. 

Yours  ever  affectionately, 

EUGENE." 

He  had  entered  upon  his  life  at  Cairo  with  all 
his  usual  enthusiasm,  and  without  taking  the  Egyp 
tian  climate  into  account  any  more  than  he  had 

ever  taken  anything  into  account  when  he  had  an 

196 


A  MEMOIR 

interesting  occupation  on  hand  or  a  plan  to  carry 
out.  A  bad  climate  is  a  great  searcher-out  of  weak 
points;  and  certain  tendencies  which  might  have 
remained  in  abeyance,  or  might  even  have  been 
corrected  in  Washington  or  Alassio,  were  rapidly 
developed  in  Egypt.  By  midwinter  the  climate 
and  the  feverish  rush  of  work  were  beginning  to 
tell  on  him.  Soon  after  his  return  from  his  trip 
up  the  Nile,  he  had  a  great  anxiety  in  the  danger 
ous  illness  of  his  nephew,  who  had  no  sooner  re 
covered  than  he  himself  was  attacked  with  influenza. 

"  About  a  week  after  I  got  back  Louis  was  taken 
down  with  influenza,  which  turned  into  bronchitis, 
and  then  with  pneumonia  with  a  touch  of  pleurisy. 
He  had  to  be  taken  to  the  hospital  of  the  German 
diaconesses,  where  he  was  for  two  weeks,  excel 
lently  attended  to  and  nursed,  though  he  was  twice 
close  to  death.  The  doctor  insists  on  sending  him 
up  the  Nile,  probably  to-morrow,  so  that  I  shall 
be  alone  again  with  all  my  tourists.  Well,  Louis 
was  not  yet  out  when  I  was  taken  down  with  a 
very  sharp — though  short — attack,  raging  fever, 
bronchitis,  etc.,  etc.,  in  bed  six  days  before  allowed 
to  sit  up.  Can  now  crawl  about,  but  have  tempo 
rarily  lost  my  voice.  It  leaves  us  all  so  weak.  One 
of  the  cavasses  was  ill  too,  and  we  had  to  shut  the 
Consulate  for  three  days.  Then  people  besieged 
me  in  my  bed.  I  had  to  interfere  when  an  Austrian 

197 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

officer  threatened  to  kill  a  very  pretty  American 
girl  if  she  would  not  marry  him,  with  no  end  of 
telegrams,  letters,  and  interviews.  I  think,  how 
ever,  that  the  excitement  did  me  good.  I  had  also 
to  institute  a  search  for  the  missing  head  of  the 
American  School  at  Athens.  I  have  drunk  more 
milk  than  I  have  since  I  was  a  baby. 

"  Now  for  your  letter.  I  have  lost  all  thought 
about  my  confirmation.  I  am  too  busy.  I  suppose 
that  -  —  will  keep  me  on  the  tenterhooks  until 
the  end  of  the  session  in  July  or  August,  and  that 
then  I  shall  be  reappointed.  I  don't  care,  except 
for  the  uncertainty,  and  on  Gertrude's  account. 
Just  at  present  I  feel  desperately  like  writing- 
novels,  plays,  essays,  all  sorts  of  things — and  no 
time.  .  .  .  Constance  Woolson  has  been  here, 
and  is  coming  back  again.  She  has  quite  set  me 
up.  She  cares  not  about  plot,  but  only  for  the 
way  things  are  done,  and  she  puts  my  little  stories 
way,  way  up,  next  to  the  French,  for  facture.  Now 
she  wants  me  to  write  a  play,  and  has  left  me  a  lot 
of  French  ones  to  read  and  profit  by.  I  have  two 
in  my  head.  One  an  English  melodrama,  the  other 
a  society  comedy,  scene  in  Cairo.  Dear  me !  if  I 
could  only  do  all  that  is  expected  of  me. 

"  It  is  impossible  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  num 
ber  of  Americans  here.  I  have  had  fifty  in  one  day 
in  the  office.  Until  I  was  convalescent  I  had  not 
been  able  to  open  a  book  since  I  left  the  Nile.  The 
season  is  at  its  height.  They  will  go  soon." 

198 


A  MEMOIR 

He  was  never  really  well  again,  although  he  went 
on  with  his  usual  occupations  and  tried  to  write 
in  his  usual  vein. 

"  This  is  Shams  el-Nessin,  '  the  smelling  of  the 
Zephyrs/  and  is  the  only  festival  which  Mussul 
mans  and  Christians  both  hold  to.  It  always  comes 
on  the  Coptic  (or  Greek)  Easter  Monday,  and  the 
proper  thing  is  to  eat  some  onions  and  badfish  in 
a  garden:  much  like  that  festival  in  Athens  to 
which  we  were  invited  for  strawberries  at  8  A.M. 
As  the  garden  looked  pretty,  I  thought  it  a  good 
way  of  inaugurating  an  unfurnished  house  by  giv 
ing  a  small  tea-party  under  this  pretext. 

u  Tuesday,  April  i$th. — Our  little  party  went  off 
very  well,  but  I  got  no  chance  to  finish  my  letter. 
There  were  about  twenty  here  altogether.  .  .  . 
Four  rooms  and  the  veranda  were  open,  though 
only  two  were  furnished,  i.e.,  properly  with  curtains 
and  all.  The  rest  had  only  rugs,  tables,  and  chairs. 
The  garden  looked  pretty,  as  the  roses  are  just 
coming  out,  and  the  turf  was  bright  green  with 
the  shadows  of  the  palms  on  it.  I  had  eight  big 
earthenware  bowls  filled  with  roses,  which  are  very 
fine  here  now.  There  are  not  many  varieties,  but 
the  La  France  and  Marechal  Niel  are  as  good  as 
anything  on  the  Riviera — also  a  dark  red  rose. 
People  seemed  to  enjoy  themselves.  .  .  . 

"  .  .  .  One  of  the  great  races  here  is  a  Noah's 
Ark  race,  where  people  drive  or  guide  animals. 
General  Dormer  won  one  once  with  a  turkey,  and 

199 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

someone  else  with  a  pelican.     The  ostrich  and  the 
monkey  were  recalcitrant  and  lost.     .     .     ." 


To  Maurice  Howard. 

"  CAIRO,  June  9,  1890. 

"  MY  DEAR  MAURY  :  How  many  letters  I  have 
begun  to  you  I  don't  know.  The  one  I  just  tore 
up  was  dated  May  I3th. 

"  Would  that  you  were  here,  for  in  spite  of  the 
heat  I  could  get  much  out  of  you,  and  you  would 
be  much  interested  in  all  sorts  of  things.  The  gar 
dens,  for  example.  As  a  rule,  everything  blooms 
twice  a  year,  and  just  now  we  have  no  end  of 
Brazilian,  Madagascar,  Soudan,  and  Indian  queer 
trees  and  plants.  I  never  saw  a  place  where  bright 
red  was  so  prevailing  a  colour.  I  have  just  driven 
by  a  little  oval,  which  I  remember  in  early  winter 
as  thickly  planted  with  scarlet  geraniums  and  Hibis 
cus  rosasinensis,  with  an  inside  circle  of  Poinsettias, 
which  grow  here  from  six  to  ten  feet  high.  Now 
the  poinsettias  are  green,  but  there  is  an  outside 
row  of  Poinciana  regia,  a  graceful  clean  mimosa- 
leaved  tree,  each  now  a  mass  of  scarlet  flowers  with 
yellow  stamens,  each  flower  about  three  inches 
across.  You  can  scarcely  see  the  foliage,  and  they 
look  like  bonfires.  Then  the  Erythrinas  have  been 
gorgeous,  especially  the  indica.  There  was  one 
very  beautiful  tree  just  going  off — Jacaranda  Mi- 
mosifolia,  leaves  as  suggested,  but  lovely  blue 
flowers,  in  big  clusters,  like  a  Tecoma.  The  trees 

200 


A  MEMOIR 

vary  from  ten  to  thirty  feet.  There  is  a  very  beau 
tiful  Tecoma  stans  now  in  bloom,  bright  yellow 
flowers,  a  shrub  from  ten  to  twenty  feet  high,  well 
worth  cultivating  on  the  Riviera,  as  is  also  Bigno- 
nia  venusta,  the  most  beautiful  I  know,  climbing, 
flowers  of  a  perfect  orange,  growing  in  clusters,  in 
shape  and  size  like  a  trumpet  honeysuckle.  The 
Frangipannis  are  in  full  bloom  again,  as  also  the 
Duranta  Plumieri,  though  I  am  not  very  fond  of 
this  last.  The  general  shade-tree  here,  which  grows 
very  quickly,  is  the  lebbek — Albizzia  Lebbek — a 
sort  of  acacia  with  locust  leaves  and  a  whitish-green 
tassel  of  flowers.  It  is  not  quite  evergreen,  for  the 
leaves  fall  off  about  the  middle  of  April,  but  by 
the  middle  of  May  they  are  all  on  again  and  the 
flowers  out.  Then  the  sycamore  and  no  end  of 
fiats,  including  banyan;  bananas,  palms  of  all  kinds 
(I  have  a  big  Pritchardii  in  bloom  in  the  garden 
which  is  very  fragrant),  candle  Euphorbias,  Phy- 
tolacca  dioria,  rosewood  (palissandre),  with  its  pen 
dulous  branches  of  fragrant  yellow  flowers,  and 
logwood,  much  like  it,  casuarinas,  acacias,  eucalyp 
tus,  and  deciduous  trees  like  poplars,  planes,  etc. 
I  wish  you  could  smell  a  double  Jasminum  Sambac, 
or  even  a  single  one.  Mrs.  Gibb  and  I  once  tried 
to  make  them  grow.  The  double  is  a  greenish- 
white  flower  like  a  round  double  ranunculus,  with 
a  strong  jasmin  odor,  just  saved  by  a  touch  of 
lemon.  It  is  heavenly.  There  are  beautiful  mag 
nolias  out  now.  As  to  roses,  I  have  seen  few 
climbing  ones,  except  Marechal  Niel,  but  those  and 

201 


EUGENE   SCHUYLER 

La  France  are  as  good  as  you  have  anywhere  on 
the  Riviera.  I  have  two  or  three  hundred  bushes 
of  La  France  and  little  else.  If  I  stay  I  shall  have 
Stamm  send  for  some  fine  varieties.  Hardly  a  day 
passes  but  I  see  something  new. 

"  Just  now  both  melons  and  watermelons  are  ex 
quisite,  apricots  and  plums  fair,  cherries  bad.  But 
the  fresh  dates  in  October!  Nothing  is  more 
delightful. 

*  You  would  be  charmed  too  with  the  colours 
both  of  faces  and  dresses.  Such  figures,  such 
poses,  such  dignity  and  grace !  And  then  the 
camels,  the  donkeys,  the  black  soldiers  in  white 
uniform,  the  jugglers,  the  marriage  and  circum 
cision  processions.  I  can  sit  at  a  cafe  or  on  the 
hotel  veranda  for  hours  at  a  time,  simply  watch 
ing  the  people.  As  to  the  bazaars  I  will  not  speak, 
for  I  have  kept  pretty  clear  of  them,  having  no 
money  to  buy,  and  not  wanting  to  be  tempted. 
There  is  a  £5,000  rug  which  I'd  like,  but  am  not 
going  to  buy — only  about  six  metres  square. 

"  Love  to  John  and  much  to  yourself.  Yours 
ever  sincerely,  EUGENE  SCHUYLER." 

In  spite  of  himself  his  letters  began  to  show  his 
failing  health.  To  his  wife's  desire  to  join  him  in 
Egypt  was  opposed  the  decree  of  his  physician, 
ordering  him  away.  He  was  prevailed  upon  to  write 
for  a  leave  of  absence,  and  awaited  its  arrival,  hop 
ing,  as  he  said,  that  after  all  he  would  not  need  it. 

202 


A  MEMOIR 

11  CAIRO,  June  12,  1890. 

"  MY  DEAR  EVA  :  Just  as  I  was  about  to  write 
to  you  there  came  in  your  letter  of  May  15-20.  I 
have  not  been  in  the  mood  for  writing  either  letters 
or  articles,  and  yet  I  have  greatly  wanted  to  do 
the  latter.  But  I  have  been  far  from  well,  and  even 
now  am  in  the  doctor's  hands.  My  liver  seems  to 
be  all  wrong,  which  in  this  climate  is  bad.  The 
doctor  is  coming  to-morrow  to  take  another  gen 
eral  look  at  me  and  tell  me  what  to  do.  However, 
my  mind  is  more  active  than  it  has  been  in  a  long 
time,  and  to-day  I  have  even  written  a  page  of  a 
note  for  the  Nation.  Otherwise  I  have  done  noth 
ing  but  official  things,  and  yesterday  got  off  a  re 
port  on  irrigation  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight 
pages,  which  cost  me  a  lot  of  work,  as  I  knew  very 
little  about  the  subject,  and  now  I  know  a  good 
deal.  My  next  official  subjects  are  Egyptian  Fi 
nance,  Olive  Culture,  Education,  and  the  Suez 
Canal.  Every  month  now  we  have  to  wrrite  a  Crop 
report,  and  I  have  varied  mine  with  all  sorts  of 
agricultural  lore.  .  .  . 

"  I  am  glad  that  you  have  become  a  gardener. 
My  work  in  that  line  consists  at  present  in  sitting  on 
the  veranda.  However,  I  have  raised  some  sweet- 
peas,  much  to  the  wonder  of  the  florist,  though  I 
admit  that  they  are  not  good,  and  I  have  some 
morning-glories  and  balloon  vines  running  up  the 
veranda  lattice.  One  of  the  palms  is  in  bloom  and 
is  very  fragrant  evening  and  morning.  We  are 
very  comfortable  in  the  house,  though  there  is  very 

203 


EUGENE  SCHUYLER 

little  furniture;  but  that  is  all  the  better  in  sum 
mer.  Since  I  have  been  ill  the  servants  make  me 
up  messes.  I  can  .make  milk-toast  myself,  and 
Farak  makes  excellent  oatmeal-porridge.  We  al 
ways  have  our  early  breakfast  here. 

"  I  had  a  little  trip  through  the  Suez  Canal  with 
the  U.  S.  S.  Alliance,  and  enjoyed  it  greatly,  then 
stopped  a  few  days  at  Suez  and  Ismailia  for  a 
change.  .  .  . 

"  Much  love  to  you  all. 

Affectionately, 

EUGENE." 

At  length,  yielding  to  the  urgency  of  his  physi 
cian,  he  telegraphed  for  a  leave  of  absence.  Im 
mediately  on  its  arrival  he  left  Cairo,  expecting  to 
join  his  wife  at  Alassio  and  go  with  her  to  Carlsbad. 
Stopping  to  rest  at  Venice,  he  was  prostrated  by  a 
malarial  fever.  The  physician  in  attendance  did 
not  consider  him  in  immediate  danger;  but  in  any 
attack  of  illness  a  weak  heart  had  to  be  taken  into 
account.  On  the  evening  of  July  i6th,  suddenly, 
without  an  instant's  warning,  he  died. 

Two  days  later  he  was  buried  in  the  Protestant 
cemetery  on  the  island  of  San  Michele,  in  accord 
ance  with  his  own  request  that  wherever  he  died, 
there  he  should  be  buried. 


204 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 
TWENTY  YEARS  AGO 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 
TWENTY  YEARS  AGO1 


Twenty  years  ago  there  still  existed  in  Moscow 
the  salon  of  the  Prince  and  Princess  Odoiefsky, 
one  of  the  literary  centres  of  Russia.  Other  houses 
there  were  where  literary  men  assembled  in  groups 
and  coteries.  At  Katkof  s  for  instance,  on  Sunday 
evenings,  one  was  sure  to  find  the  shrewd  and 
caustic  Leontief,  Professor  Liubimof  and  his  fel 
low-workers  on  the  Moscow  Gazette  and  the  Rus 
sian  Messenger,  some  of  the  professors  in  the  re 
cently  established  Lyceum,  and  occasionally  a 
passing  stranger,  from  either  North  or  South, 
who  sympathized  with  the  Moscow  as  distin 
guished  from  the  Petersburg  school  of  literature 
and  politics.  Katkof,  decided  as  he  was  in  his 
political  views,  was  a  charming  talker  on  literary 
subjects,  about  which  he  allowed  more  difference 
of  opinion.  He  was  such  a  hard  worker,  especially 

1  Published  in  1889. 
207 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

at  night,  that  Sunday  afternoons  and  evenings 
were  the  only  times  when  he  was  visible,  as  his 
Gazette  was  not  issued  on  Monday.  His  wife,  a 
princess  of  some  small  family  in  the  Caucasus,  was 
an  agreeable  little  woman;  and  the  house  swarmed 
with  children,  with  whom — I  may  speak  of  myself 
— I  was  the  best  of  friends;  and  I  shall  never  for 
get  my  occasional  dinners  and  evenings  with  the 
family.  At  the  house  of  Aksakof,  the  journalistic 
rival  of  Katkof,  and  the  great  Slavophile,  one 
used  to  meet  Miliutin,  Prince  Tcherkasky,  and 
others  of  his  particular  clique,  as  well  as  his  father- 
in-law,  the  poet  Tiutchef,  when  he  happened  to  be 
in  Moscow;  but  the  feeble  health  of  Madame 
Aksakof  prevented  anything  like  regular  recep 
tions.  At  Bartenief  s — the  editor  of  the  Russian 
Archives — a  man  remarkably  well  informed  on  all 
historical  and  bibliographical  subjects,  and  in  the 
rooms  of  some  of  the  professors  of  the  University, 
one  occasionally  saw  scholars  and  interesting  men. 
But  the  salon  of  Prince  Odoiefsky  was  the  great 
meeting-place. 

Prince  Vladimir  Feodorovitch  Odoiefsky  was 
then  the  sole  surviving  member  of  the  eldest 
branch  of  the  descendants  of  Rurik,  and  was 
therefore  not  only  the  first  noble  in  Russia,  but, 

genealogically  speaking,  of  higher  origin  than  the 
^  208 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

Emperor.  He  had  begun  his  public  life  as  a 
Chamberlain  at  Court  and  in  the  Ministry  of  Public 
Instruction,  had  become  Director  of  the  Imperial 
Public  Library  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  Grand 
Master  at  the  court  of  the  learned  and  witty  Grand 
Duchess  Helen;  and  had  finally  retired  to  Moscow 
as  President  of  one  of  the  sections  of  the  Senate 
— which  is  the  Russian  Court  of  Appeals.  In  a 
literary  way  he  was  one  of  the  few  survivors  of 
the  Pushkin  epoch,  and  in  his  youth  had  written 
many  short  tales  of  a  somewhat  reflective  and 
ideal  cast;  some  of  them,  such  as  "  Beethoven's 
Last  Quartet  "  and  "  A  Fugue  of  Bach,"  of  great 
merit.  During  later  years  his  productions  had 
been  fewer,  but  of  much  value.  He  was  a  many- 
sided  man — a  courtier,  a  lawyer,  a  musician,  a 
writer,  and  a  scientist.  There  was  hardly  a  branch 
of  knowledge  in  which  his  opinion  was  not  val 
uable,  and  his  opinion  was  founded  not  only  on  a 
wonderful  acquaintance  with  books  but  on  reflec 
tion  as  well.  In  his  large  library,  filled  with  rare 
works,  there  was  hardly  a  volume  that  was  not 
annotated  with  his  careful  pencillings.  For  a 
scientific  knowledge  of  music  and  of  musical 
acoustics  he  had  probably  few,  if  any,  superiors  in 
the  world,  and  of  late  years  had  given  all  his  spare 

time  to  musical  experiment,  study,  and  composi- 
VOL.  I.— 14  209 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

tion.  Though  the  first  aristocrat  of  Russia,  he 
was  perhaps  the  greatest  democrat.  In  his  famous 
and  curious  cabinet,  where  all  the  Russian  authors 
from  Pushkin  to  Count  Tolstoy  had  so  often 
talked,  where  Glinka  and  Berlioz  and  every  musi 
cian,  and,  in  fact,  every  distinguished  man  who 
had  ever  been  in  Russia  had  sat;  where  Emperors 
and  Grand  Dukes  even  came,  everybody  was  per 
fectly  equal  and  perfectly  at  home.  The  lowest 
clerk  was  treated  in  exactly  the  same  way  as  the 
Cabinet  Minister  or  the  Ambassador.  There  was 
the  same  kind  reception  for  all,  the  same  willing 
ness  to  oblige  and  serve.  The  Princess  Olga  was 
as  charming  as  her  husband,  though  in  a  different 
way.  Her  brother,  Count  Lanskoy,  as  Minister 
of  the  Interior,  had  been  the  chief  man  in  the 
movement  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Russian 
serfs.  Her  family  still  keeps  up  its  liberal  ideas, 
and  one  of  her  nephews  is  Mr.  Galkin-Vrassky, 
well  known  in  connection  with  prison  reform  in 
Russia;  and  whom  Mr.  Kennan  has  frequently 
occasion  to  mention  with  praise. 

To  this  hospitable  house  I  was  introduced,  on 
my  first  arrival  at  Moscow,  in  the  autumn  of  1867, 
by  Turguenief  the  novelist,  whose  personal  ac 
quaintance  I  had  just  made  at  Baden-Baden.  I 

was  young  in  years  and  still  younger  in  character 

210 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

and  temperament;  and  from  the  first  I  was  treated 
not  so  much  like  a  favored  guest  as  like  the 
spoiled  child  of  the  house.  I  was  made  to  dine 
there  regularly  at  least  once  in  the  week,  and  was 
also  expected  to  come  to  the  usual  Friday  even 
ings;  and  the  Prince,  who  had  a  taste  for  cooking 
and  had  even  published  a  cookery  book,  used  to 
send  for  me  by  messenger  whenever  he  was  to  try 
a  new  dish,  or  was  expecting  an  interesting  guest. 
He  lived  in  an  old  house  on  the  Smolensky  Boule 
vard,  which  had  apparently  escaped  the  fire  of 
1812,  with  wings  extending  in  a  semicircle  on 
either  side  to  the  street  in  the  old  Moscow  style; 
with  a  great  court-yard  in  front,  a  large  garden  be 
hind,  where  he  used  to  experiment  on  rare  vege 
tables  and  plants — for  he  was  as  fond  of  botany  as 
of  cookery  or  of  music.  Beneath  him,  on  the 
ground  floor,  dwelt  the  well-known  bibliophile 
Sobolefsky  —  whose  library  since  his  death  has 
been  pretty  well  distributed  through  Europe  and 
America — who  was  then  an  habitue  of  the  house. 
On  the  regular  Friday  evenings  the  ladies  usually 
assembled  in  one  of  the  two  drawing-rooms  about 
the  Princess,  who  made  the  tea,  unless  some  young 
lady  relieved  her  of  that  duty;  while  the  men 
sooner  or  later  dropped  off  into  the  cabinet  of  the 

Prince    for    cigars,    cigarettes,    and    talk.      When 

211 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

some  great  singer  or  musician  was  present,  like 
Madame  Alexandrova,  the  prima  donna  of  the 
Russian  opera,  who  used  to  come  when  she  was 
free,  we  adjourned  to  the  big  hall  lined  with  books 
between  the  salon  and  the  cabinet,  where  there 
were  two  pianos,  an  organ,  and  a  collection  of 
musical  instruments.  There  I  met  Berlioz  and 
other  foreign  musicians;  and  once  heard  the  Rus 
sian  composer  Serof  give  us  the  bonnes  douches  of 
one  of  his  new  operas.  The  Prince  had  invented 
a  little  piano-forte  with  separate  keys  for  the  flats 
and  sharps  properly  tuned  like  a  violin.  This 
was  sometimes  tried,  with  the  result  of  spoiling 
our  ears  during  the  rest  of  the  evening  for  the  con 
ventional  approximate  sounds  of  an  ordinary  piano. 
To  tell  of  all  who  used  to  come  there  would  simply 
be  to  give  a  catalogue  of  Russian  society  of  the 
best  sort — for  all  that  was  good  at  St.  Peters 
burg  occasionally  stopped  at  Moscow,  and  in  that 
case  always  went  to  see  the  Princess — or  to  re 
count  all  the  eminent  names  in  Russian  art  and 
literature. 

It  was  here  that  one  evening  I  met  Count  Leo 
Tolstoy,  who  had  of  old  relations  with  the  Prince, 
and  who  was  intimate  besides  with  many  Moscow 
ladies,  great  friends  of  the  Princess,  who  were  in 

fact  at  that  time  furnishing  material  for  his  novel 

212 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

of  "  War  and  Peace  "  which  he  was  then  slowly 
writing.  I  was  greatly  attracted  by  him,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  evening  told  the  Princess  that  he  had 
asked  me  to  come  to  see  him.  She  laughingly 
replied:  "  It  is  not  worth  your  while;  for  you  will 
make  nothing  out  of  him,  as  he  is  very  shy  and 
very  wild  "  (tres- farouche  et  tres-sauvage). 

Somehow  I  was  not  deterred  by  the  forbidding 
remark  of  the  Princess,  and  the  next  day  went  off 
to  see  Count  Tolstoy,  whom  I  found  surrounded 
by  books  and  papers  in  a  small  apartment  lent  to 
him  by  a  friend.  Far  from  being  a  bear  he  seemed 
to  me  to  be  extremely  amiable.  Our  acquaintance 
continued  until  a  suddenly  proposed  journey  took 
me  southeastward  to  Orenburg  on  the  confines  of 
Asia,  when  he  not  only  gave  me  letters  to  various 
relatives  and  friends  whom  I  would  be  likely  to 
meet,  but  gave  me,  in  addition,  a  pressing  invita 
tion  to  come  to  his  country-place  in  the  autumn 
and  stay  as  long  as  I  liked  and  could  put  up  with 
his  ways. 

When  the  autumn  came  the  invitation  was  re 
peated. 


213 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

II 

Therefore,  on  Saturday,  October  3d,  1868,  I 
left  Moscow  at  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  by  the 
only  available  train  on  the  Southern  Railway,  then 
lately  opened,  and  after  passing  Tula — the  Bir 
mingham  and  Sheffield  of  Russia — about  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  miles  south  of  Moscow,  arrived 
at  the  Yasenki  Station  about  two  o'clock  at  night. 
During  the  journey  I  was  much  amused  by  mak 
ing  the  acquaintance  of  Mr.  N.  Makarof,  the  com 
piler  of  the  best  Russian-French  dictionary,  who, 
in  the  Russian  simple  way,  told  me  all  his  affairs 
and  the  whole  story  of  his  life.  On  a  journey  Rus 
sians  become  very  garrulous,  and,  while  they  are 
as  inquisitive  as  the  Scotch,  they  are  frank  and 
confiding  about  their  own  affairs — even  those  of 
an  intimate  nature — to  a  degree  that  it  is  difficult 
for  us  to  imagine.  The  lovely  day  in  Moscow  had 
ended  in  a  disagreeable  storm  of  rain.  The  Count's 
carriage  was  waiting  at  Yasenki  Station,  but  it 
rained  so  hard  and  it  was  so  dark  that  it  took  us 
fully  an  hour  and  a  half  to  drive  the  four  miles  to 
the  house  at  Yasnaya  Polyana.  At  last  we  came 
to  a  tall  stone  column  and  turned  up  an  avenue 
of  trees.  A  servant  was  waiting  for  me  at  the 

house,  who  conducted  me  through  what  seemed  a 

214 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

labyrinth  of  passages  to  my  room,  where  I  found 
a  table  spread,  and  was  very  glad  to  eat  somewhat 
and  warm  myself  with  tea.  I  was  told  that  very 
late  hours  were  kept,  and  that  I  should  not  be  ex 
pected  to  appear  before  eleven  o'clock,  which 
was  the  usual  time  for  morning  coffee.  The  room 
which  had  been  given  to  me  was  on  the  further 
corner  of  the  ground  floor.  I  had  to  pass  the 
Count's  business-room  and  study  to  get  to  it;  but, 
as  I  found  the  next  day,  I  was  near  a  staircase, 
and  could  go  up  to  the  drawing-rooms  and  dining- 
room  with  ease.  In  one  corner  was  a  glass  cup 
board  filled  with  holy  pictures — images,  or  Ikons 
as  they  call  them — some  in  the  old  and  primitive 
style,  evidently  painted  before  the  beginning  of 
Dissent,  and  some  richly  covered  with  jewels;  be 
sides  crosses,  rosaries,  and  relics,  so  that  my  curi 
osity  was  greatly  aroused.  I  soon  ascertained  that 
this  was  the  room  of  Madame  Yushkof,  the 
Count's  aunt,  who  had  taken  care  of  him  since 
his  early  youth  and  had  since  continued  to  live 
with  him. 

At  eleven  o'clock  the  next  morning  I  made  my 
appearance  in  the  drawing-room  and  became  ac 
quainted  with  the  various  members  of  the  family: 
the  Countess  Sofea  Andreievna,  a  charming,  tall, 
slender,  and  handsome  woman  of  about  twenty- 

215 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

four,  the  daughter  of  a  German  physician  at  Mos 
cow,  named  Bors,  who  was  at  that  time  the  chief 
military  medical  officer  at  Tula;  three  children — 
Serge  or  Seryozhka,  a  nice  handsome  boy  of  five 
years  old;  a  little  girl  with  bright  eyes  like  her 
mother,  called  Tania,  short  for  Tatiana;  and  a 
little  boy  named  Ilya  or  Ilyushka  (Elijah);  and  an 
English  governess.  The  Count  wore  a  gray 
plaited  blouse,  confined  by  a  belt,  neither  exactly 
a  shooting-jacket,  nor  yet  a  peasant  shirt,  which 
turned  out  to  be  his  habitual  costume  in  the  coun 
try.  The  usual  language  of  the  family  was  Eng 
lish,  at  all  events  when  the  children  were  present. 
The  children  had  their  coffee  and  bread  and  butter 
with  us,  after  which  the  Count  and  I  smoked, 
talked,  and  played  an  hour  or  so  duets  on  the 
piano,  as  it  was  still  too  rainy  to  go  out.  Suddenly 
the  weather  cleared  as  if  by  magic,  and  we  \vere 
able  to  ride  out  and  look  at  the  estate. 

Yasnaya  Polyana,  which  means,  literally,  an 
open  field  or  clearing,  contains  about  3,000  acres, 
the  greater  part  of  which  had  been  always  under 
cultivation;  but  as  the  land  was  not  rich  and 
seemed  poor  in  comparison  with  the  fertile  black 
soil  beginning  four  miles  to  the  south,  and  as  the 
recent  opening  of  the  railway  had  reduced  the 

price  of  grain  by  bringing  it  from  far  better  lands, 

216 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

and  wages  in  this  region  were  very  high  in  con 
sequence  of  the  peasants  being  employed  as 
carters  and  drivers,  Count  Tolstoy  had  begun  to 
give  up  sowing  wheat  and  rye,  and  was  then  plant 
ing  the  whole  estate  with  birch-trees.  These  he 
estimated  would  in  the  course  of  twenty  years 
yield  a  large  and  steady  revenue  if  carefully  cut  for 
firewood  on  the  French  plan,  and  thus  he  would 
leave  the  estate  to  his  children  far  more  productive 
than  he  had  himself  inherited  it.  The  house 
stood  on  a  little  hill  at  the  end  of  a  fine  avenue  of 
birch  and  lime  trees:  in  front  were  the  remains  of 
a  magnificent  garden,  with  many  ponds  and  slopes 
of  grass  and  fine  alleys  of  trees.  Behind  the  courts 
and  stables  the  woods,  fields,  and  plantations  be 
gan.  The  green-house  had  been  burnt  down  a 
year  or  two  before,  and  since  then  the  flower- 
garden  had  been  given  up.  The  old  manor- 
house,  which  had  been  a  very  fine  building,  had 
become  so  ruinous  that  it  had  been  pulled  down 
shortly  before,  and  the  family  were  then  living  in 
one  of  the  detached  wings.  All  large  Russian 
houses,  both  in  city  and  country,  were  formerly 
built  with  two  or  three  detached  wings,  which 
were  always  found  useful  and  convenient  in  the 
times  when  a  whole  family,  with  half  a  dozen 

servants,  would  come  for  a  three  months'  visit. 

217 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

We  came  back  to  a  five  o'clock  dinner,  after 
which  there  was  music  and  general  conversation, 
until  between  nine  and  ten,  when  we  had  a  light 
supper,  without  the  children,  and  then  the  Count 
took  me  to  his  study,  where  we  talked  until  one  or 
two. 

The  other  days  were  passed  much  in  the  same 
way.  It  is  impossible  to  give  the  diary  of  a  week 
so  spent,  the  charm  of  which  lay  in  the  company, 
the  lovely  October  weather  which  invited  to  ex 
cursions  of  all  kinds,  and  in  the  talk. 

Although  Tolstoy  was  then  engaged  on  the  last 
part  of  "  War  and  Peace,"  there  could  have  been 
little  writing  done  at  this  time.  The  author's 
great  passion  was  then,  as  it  always  had  been, 
sport.  Every  morning  I  found  that  he  had  been 
up  by  daylight,  or  even  before,  no  matter  at  what 
time  he  had  gone  to  bed  on  the  previous  night, 
and  had  gone  off  into  the  woods  with  his  gun 
and  dogs  in  pursuit  of  game.  This  was  just  the 
season  for  it;  but  the  heavy  rain  had  for  the  mo 
ment  driven  off  the  woodcock,  of  which  there 
were  generally  quantities  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  house  in  what  had  been  formerly  a  park. 
It  is  to  this  love  of  sport  that  we  owe  not  only  the 
whole  story  of  "  The  Cossacks,"  as  well  as  several 

other  of  his  early  tales,  but  also  some  of  the  best 

218 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

pages  in  "  War  and  Peace "  and  in  "  Anna 
Karenin  " — the  shooting  parties  and  the  military 
races,  all  of  them  evidently  accounts  of  what  Tol 
stoy  had  seen  and  taken  part  in.  After  going  out 
once  or  twice  with  him  I  could  see  the  intense 
realism  of  these  parts,  and  for  me  they  now  have 
a  special  attraction  as  recalling  this  visit  to  Yas- 
naya  Polyana.  Having  inherited  an  antipathy  to 
firearms,  and  never  having  lived  in  a  region  where 
game  was  plentiful,  or  where  its  pursuit  was 
socially  obligatory,  as  in  England,  I  had  never 
been  in  the  woods  with  a  gun  in  my  hand,  and  I 
was  persuaded  to  do  so  for  the  first  and  last  time 
in  my  life — not  that  it  displeased  me,  quite  the  con 
trary,  but  somehow  the  occasion  has  never  come 
again. 

I  can  never  forget  my  first  day  out — a  day  as 
warm  and  beautiful  as  that  on  which  I  am  now 
writing  on  the  Riviera.  We  drove  about  a  dozen 
miles  to  an  open  wood  where  we  expected  to 
shoot  hares.  There  we  were  joined  by  Mr.  Bibi- 
kof,  our  nearest  neighbor,  whom  we  saw  nearly 
every  day.  Perhaps  it  was  because  Tolstoy  had 
so  strong  an  individuality  that  I  have  but  little 
remembrance  of  Bibikof,  except  as  a  pleasant, 
hospitable  country  gentleman,  with  a  good  house 

and  an  agreeable  family.     I   but   dimly  recollect 

219 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

even  how  he  looked.  Each  party  had  brought  a 
dog  or  two,  whose  duty  was  to  start  the  hares  and 
drive  them  along  the  country-road  through  the 
woods,  so  as  to  pass  us,  who  sat  or  stood  at  con 
siderable  intervals  in  convenient  little  nooks  ap 
parently  arranged  for  the  purpose;  for  there  was 
generally  a  stump  or  log  so  placed  as  to  make  a 
seat  and  a  look-out.  My  forest  excursions  had  up 
to  that  time  been  solely  botanical,  and,  except  for 
a  curious  bird  or  insect,  I  had  looked  only  at  trees, 
shrubs,  and  the  ground  in  search  of  some  rare 
plant,  moss,  or  fungus.  It  was  new  to  me  to  sit 
still  and  use  my  ears  as  well  as  my  eyes;  to  appre 
ciate  the  different  noises  of  the  wood;  to  know 
whether  that  was  a  twig  or  a  leaf  which  fell — for 
the  leaves  were  just  falling,  none  of  them,  even 
maples  and  oaks,  coloured  so  highly  as  with  us;  to 
distinguish  between  the  noises  made  by  the  birds; 
to  speculate  as  to  the  origin  of  unknown  sounds, 
and  to  have  one's  attention  always  strained  for  the 
patter-patter  of  the  hare.  I  passed  thus  what  I 
look  back  to  now  as  one  of  the  pleasantest  half- 
hours  of  my  life;  strained,  attent,  and  exercising 
what  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  new  sense;  quite  alone, 
yet  having  friends  within  call,  though  I  knew  not 
where  they  were,  having  been  first  posted.  At 
last  I  heard  the  dogs  coming  down  the  road  and 

220 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

the  unmistakable  sound  of  the  hare  over  the  dry 
leaves.  She  came  out  into  the  little  clearing, 
stopped  still,  and  looked  at  me  with  curiosity.  I 
looked  at  her  with  equal  wonder,  and  was  so 
nervous  and  excited  that  I  quite  forgot  that  I  had 
a  gun  and  had  been  put  there  to  kill  her.  When 
we  had  each  gazed  our  fill  she  leisurely  walked 
off.  There  was  another  half-hour  of  waiting,  dur 
ing  which  I  heard  occasional  shots  in  various  di 
rections.  Again  a  hare  appeared  and  sat  in  front 
of  me — it  was  probably  the  same  one  come  back 
to  see  what  I  was  doing  then.  This  time  I  delib 
erately  aimed  and  fired,  wounding  her  in  a  hind 
leg.  I  pitied  her  as  she  hopped  off  into  the  under 
brush,  and  entirely  forgot  that  I  had  a  second 
barrel  of  my  gun.  When  we  met  afterwards  and 
compared  results,  it  was  found  that  on  the  whole 
I  had  not  done  so  badly;  for  there  was  only  one 
hare  killed  by  the  whole  party — by  one  of  the  Bibi- 
kofs.  Tolstoy  had  seen  a  hare,  but  she  had 
escaped  while  he  was  cocking  his  gun.  The  rela 
tion  of  my  adventures  sent  the  sportsmen  into 
roars  of  laughter;  but  Tolstoy  said  something  in 
the  evening  which  showed  that  he  appreciated 
their  poetic  side. 

On  another  day  we  went  hare-hunting.     Tol 
stoy  and  two  of  the  Bibikofs  were  mounted,  and 

221 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

armed  with  very  long,  flexible,  but  heavy  whips, 
followed  by  the  dogs  in  leash.  The  rest  of  us — 
that  is,  the  ladies  and  children  of  the  Bibikof  fam 
ily,  the  Countess,  Serge,  and  myself — went  in  a 
lineika,  a  long,  low  Russian  vehicle  for  country 
use,  shaped  very  much  like  a  prolonged  Irish 
jaunting-car,  which  will  hold  eight  or  ten  people 
sitting  back  to  back.  When  we  had  come  to  a 
sort  of  moor  we  were  posted  on  a  low  hill  from 
which  we  had  a  wide  view  in  all  directions,  and 
where  the  servants  were  to  prepare  the  picnic 
lunch.  The  riders,  with  their  respective  dogs, 
which  were  loosed,  started  off  in  different  direc 
tions.  The  dogs  were  trained  to  drive  the  hares 
near  the  hunters,  who,  as  soon  as  they  came  within 
distance,  deftly  killed  them  with  one  blow  of  the 
whip,  either  strangling  them  or  breaking  their 
backs.  It  was  mad,  break-neck  riding  over  the 
hills,  gullies,  and  blind  holes,  and  the  sport  was 
almost  as  exciting  to  the  onlookers  as  to  the  actual 
participants. 

This  particular  sort  of  sport  is  perhaps  peculiar 
to  the  region;  the  rest  of  it  might  have  been  en 
joyed  at  almost  any  country-house  in  such  weather. 
What  had  more  savour  to  me  were  the  after-supper 
talks,  often  prolonged  till  late  in  the  night. 


222 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

III 

One  evening  during  my  stay  Tolstoy  told  me 
much  about  his  early  life;  but  in  what  I  shall  say 
now  I  do  not  repeat  all  that  he  said  or  as  he  said 
it,  and  I  fill  in  some  details  from  other  sources. 

He  was  born  on  s^Se2?*  1828,  at  Yasnaya 
Polyana,  the  youngest  of  four  sons.  Of  his 
brothers,  Nicholas  lived  until  1862;  he  is  said  to 
have  had  a  charming  character,  was  a  great 
sporting  friend  of  Turguenief,  whose  estate  was 
near  by,  and  served  for  some  years  in  the  army 
of  the  Caucasus.  He  told  sporting  stones  very 
well,  and  even  wrote  out  some  of  them,  which 
were  published;  but,  as  Turguenief  said,  "his 
hands  were  as  callous  as  those  of  a  workman,  and 
he  experienced  great  physical  difficulties  in  writ 
ing."  In  some  ways  he  might  well  have  stood 
for  the  original  of  Nicholas  Levin  in  "  Anna 
Karenin  "  even  to  many  of  the  details.  His  sister 
Marie  married  another  Tolstoy.  She  was,  accord 
ing  to  Turguenief,  "  a  woman  in  the  highest 
degree  agreeable  and  sympathetic; "  who  again 
writes  (in  1856) :  "  Her  illness  saddens  me.  If 
there  is  a  woman  on  earth  who  deserves  to  be 
happy,  it  is  she.  But  it  is  just  on  such  natures 

that  the  heavy  hand  of  fate  is  always  laid."     Tol- 

223 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

stoy's  mother  died  in  1830,  when  he  was  not  yet 
two  years  old,  on  which  the  children  were  taken 
care  of  by  their  aunt,  the  Countess  Osten  Sacken, 
their  father's  sister.  But  about  the  time  of  the 
removal  of  the  family  to  Moscow,  in  1837,  the 
father  died.  Leo,  his  brother  Dimitri,  and  his 
sister  Marie,  were  sent  back  to  the  country,  while 
Nicholas  remained  in  Moscow  with  his  aunt  Osten 
Sacken  and  attended  the  University.  Three  years 
later  the  Countess  Osten  Sacken  died,  and  the 
younger  children  passed  into  the  care  of  her  sister, 
another  aunt,  Madame  Yushkof,  living  at  Kazan. 
She  devoted  herself  to  Count  Leo  and  his  family 
for  the  rest  of  her  long  life,  and  Tolstoy  gives  an 
amusing  example  of  her  wishes  for  his  future 
prosperity  in  the  first  chapter  of  his  "  Confessions." 
Dimitri  now  went  to  the  University  of  Kazan,  dis 
tinguishing  himself  at  one  time  by  a  religious  zeal 
which  made  him  the  laughing-stock  of  the  rest  of 
the  family.1 

1  The  account  of  his  early  life,  given  by  Count  Tolstoy  in  his  "  Con 
fessions,"  is  interesting;  but  we  must  remember  that  it  was  written 
under  the  influence  of  a  very  strong  religious  emotion. 

"  I  was  baptized  and  brought  up  in  the  Orthodox  Christian  Faith. 
It  was  taught  to  me  in  my  early  childhood,  and  through  my  whole 
boyhood  and  youth.  But  when,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  I  had  passed 
my  second  year  at  the  University,  I  no  longer  believed  anything  that 
I  had  been  taught.  Judging  from  certain  recollections  I  could  never 
have  believed  seriously,  and  had  only  a  sort  of  confidence  in  what 
older  people  had  professed  in  my  presence.  Even  this  confidence  was 
very  shaky.  I  remember  when  I  was  about  eleven  years  old  that  a 
boy,  long  since  dead,  Volodinka  M ,  a  pupil  of  the  High  School, 

224 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

Leo  himself  began  to  attend  the  University  in 
1843  a*  tne  a£e  °f  fifteen,  and  passed  one  year 
in  the  course  of  Eastern  Languages,  and  two 
years  in  that  of  Law.  Suddenly,  seized  with  a 
desire  of  doing  good  to  his  peasants,  he  left  the 
University  and  settled  on  his  estate  at  Yasnaya 
Polyana.  His  experiences  there,  as  well  as  his 
ideas  in  going  there,  are  hinted  at  in  his  sketch 
called  "  The  Morning  of  a  Proprietor "  (Utro 

came  to  see  us  one  Sunday  and  told  us,  as  the  last  news,  a  discovery 
that  had  been  made  at  school.  This  was  that  there  was  no  God,  and 
that  all  that  had  been  taught  us  on  that  subject  was  pure  imagination. 
This  was  in  1838.  I  remember  how  interested  my  elder  brothers  got 
over  this  news;  how  they  called  me  into  the  consultation,  and  how 
we  all  became  very  animated  and  received  the  information  as  some 
thing  very  interesting  and  perfectly  possible. 

"  I  remember,  too,  that  when  my  eldest  brother  Dimitri,  while  he 
was  at  the  University,  suddenly  gave  himself  up  to  religion  with  the 
peculiar  passion  of  his  nature  and  began  to  attend  all  the  services, 
to  fast,  and  to  lead  a  purely  moral  life,  we  all,  even  our  elders,  con 
stantly  held  him  up  to  ridicule,  and  for  some  reason  or  other  called 
him  Noah.  Mussin-Pushkin,  who  was  then  Curator  of  the  University 
of  Kazan,  when  he  used  to  invite  us  to  a  dance  and  my  brother  re 
fused,  laughingly  tried  to  persuade  him  by  saying  that  David  had 
danced  before  the  ark.  I  sympathized  then  with  these  jests  of  my 
elders  and  concluded  from  them  that  it  was  necessary  to  learn  the 
catechism  and  go  to  church,  but  that  all  that  should  not  be  taken 
too  seriously.  I  remember  also  that  I  read  Voltaire  when  I  was  very 
young,  and  his  ridicule  not  only  did  not  disturb  me,  but  even  amused 
me.  Unbelief  came  on  me  just  as  it  had  come,  and  still  comes,  on 
persons  of  all  classes  of  society. 

"  The  religious  belief  which  had  been  inculcated  into  me  in  my 
childhood  disappeared  in  me  as  in  several  others,  with  this  difference 
only,  that  as  I  had  begun  to  read  philosophical  works  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  my  refusal  to  believe  was  made  with  the  consciousness  of  what 
I  was  doing.  At  sixteen  I  had  stopped  saying  my  prayers,  and  act 
ing  on  my  own  convictions  refused  to  go  to  church  or  to  fast.  I  did 
not  believe  in  what  had  been  taught  me  in  childhood,  but  I  believed 
in  something  or  other. 

"  Some  time  I  will  tell  the  history  of  my  life,  which  is  both  touch 
ing  and  instructive  in  these  ten  years  of  my  youth.  I  think  that  very 
many  will  have  the  same  experience.  I  desired  with  all  my  soul  to 

VOL.  I.— 15  225 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

pomiestchika).  In  1851  he  made  to  his  brother, 
then  serving  in  the  Caucasus,  a  visit  which  com 
pletely  changed  the  current  of  his  life.  Struck 
with  the  scenery  and  the  simple  ways,  influenced 
perhaps  also  by  other  considerations,  he  desired  to 
remain;  and,  as  the  Caucasus  was  not  then  a 
place  for  civilians,  he  entered  the  military  service 
as  Yunker  in  the  fourth  battery  of  the  twentieth 
brigade  of  artillery.  A  Yunker  was  at  that  time 

be  good;  but  I  was  young,  I  had  passions,  and  I  was  alone,  quite 
alone,  when  I  sought  for  good.  Every  time  that  I  tried  to  express 
what  were  my  most  heartfelt  wishes,  that  I  wished  to  be  morally 
good,  I  met  with  contempt  and  ridicule;  but  whenever  I  gave  my 
self  up  to  my  bad  passions  I  was  praised  and  encouraged. 

"  Ambition,  love  of  power,  love  of  gain,  pleasure,  pride,  wrath, 
vengeance — all  that  was  respected:  when  I  gave  myself  up  to  these 
passions  I  began  to  be  like  a  man  and  felt  that  people  were  contented 
with  me.  My  good  aunt,  a  most  virtuous  woman,  with  whom  I  lived, 
always  said  to  me  that  she  wished  nothing  for  me  so  much  as  to  come 
into  relations  with  a  married  woman:  '  rien  ne  forme  un  jeune  homme 
comme  une  liaison  avec  une  femme  comme  il  faut.'  She  wished  me 
also  another  good  fortune,  that  I  should  become  an  aide-de-camp, 
especially  an  aide-de-camp  to  the  Emperor.  But  the  very  highest  good 
luck  would  be  to  marry  a  very  rich  girl,  in  consequence  of  which  I 
should  possess  the  greatest  possible  number  of  serfs. 

"  I  cannot  remember  these  years  without  horror,  disgust,  and  pain 
of  heart.  I  used  to  kill  people  in  war;  I  challenged  them  to  duels  in 
order  to  kill  them  ;  I  used  to  lose  money  at  cards ;  I  ate  up  the  labour 
of  the  peasants  and  punished  them;  I  led  an  immoral  life;  gave  my 
self  up  to  systematic  deception.  Lying,  theft,  pleasure  of  all  kinds, 
drunkenness,  violence,  murder.  .  .  .  there  was  no  crime  that  I 
did  not  commit.  For  all  that  my  contemporaries  praised  me  and  still 
considered  me  a  comparatively  moral  man. 

"  Thus  I  lived  for  ten  years.  During  this  time  I  began  to  write— 
from  vanity,  cupidity,  and  pride.  I  was  the  same  in  my  writings  as 
I  was  in  my  life.  In  order  to  get  fame  and  money,  for  which  I  wrote, 
it  was  necessary  to  conceal  what  was  good  and  show  forth  what  was 
bad.  And  so  I  did.  How  often  did  I  take  great  pains  in  my  writings 
to  conceal,  under  an  appearance  of  indifference,  and  even  of  light  ridi 
cule,  those  aspirations  of  mine  to  virtue  which  were  really  the  aim  of 
my  life.  That  end  I  succeeded  in  attaining,  and  I  was  praised  in  con 
sequence." 

226 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

something  between  a  soldier  and  an  officer,  the 
rank  by  which  noblemen  generally  entered  the 
army,  which  obliged  them  to  do  soldier's  duty,  and 
yet  allowed  them  to  associate  on  an  equality  with 
the  officers.  He  was  stationed  at  Staro-Lidov- 
skaya  on  the  Terek,  where  he  remained  about 
three  years,  till  the  outbreak  of  the  war  with 
Turkey.  The  new  surroundings  awakened  new 
expressions  of  his  nature,  and  Tolstoy  began  to 
write.  "  Childhood "  (Dietstvo)  was  finished  in 
1852,  and  "  Boyhood "  (Otrotchestvo)  in  1854. 
"The  Incursion"  (Nabieg)  and  "A  Landlord's 
Morning "  (Utro  Pomiestchikd)  were  also  written 
in  1852.  It  is  curious  to  find  that  at  the  very 
beginning  were  the  germs  of  the  three  different 
lines  that  he  has  continued  and  woven  together  in 
his  latest  and  best  works,  and  even  the  germs  of 
his  more  recent  philosophical-religious  phase. 
The  foundations  were  laid  for  several  other  short 
stones,  especially  "  The  Cossacks  " — and  in  some 
cases  the  projects  were  committed  to  paper. 

When  the  Eastern  war  began,  Tolstoy  asked  for 
active  service,  and  was  assigned  to  the  staff  of 
Prince  Michael  Gortchakof,  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  Russian  army  on  the  Danube;  and 
when  the  scene  of  action  was  transferred  to  the 

Crimea,  he  obtained  the  command  of  a  mountain 

227 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

battery,  and  had  the  chance  to  do  good  service 
in  the  battle  of  the  Tchernaya  (August  16,  1855). 
This  battle,  which  was  so  disastrous  to  Russia, 
was  the  outcome  of  a  series  of  blunders,  beginning 
with  the  demand  of  Baron  Vrefsky,  the  repre 
sentative  of  the  Minister  of  War,  for  active  oper 
ations  of  some  kind,  and  with  the  forgetfulness  of 
the  military  topographers  to  put  down  on  the  cam 
paign-map  certain  gullies  and  ravines  that  proved 
of  great  importance.  The  deliberations  of  the 
Council  of  War  and  the  events  of  the  battle  were 
well  hit  off  in  a  satirical  song,  which  is  an  excel 
lent  illustration  of  a  national  trait  of  Russians,  of 
being  able  to  joke  and  laugh  even  in  the  worst 
moments,  and  thus  to  keep  up  their  spirits.  It 
was  very  popular  in  the  Crimea,  and  was  soon 
circulated  in  manuscript  throughout  Russia.  The 
voice  of  the  army  ascribed  the  authorship  to  Tol 
stoy,  but  it  was  naturally  impossible  to  avow  it. 
He  was  at  least  one  of  the  authors,  for  new  verses 
were  occasionally  added  at  officers'  suppers,  when 
Tolstoy  himself  sometimes  accompanied  it  on  the 
piano. 

During  the  campaign  Tolstoy  began  "  Youth  " 
(Yiinost),  which  was  not  finished  till  two  years 
later,  wrote  another  sketch  of  the  Caucasus, 

"  Wood-cutting "    (Rubka-lyesa),    and    the    three 

228 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

sketches  of  Sevastopol.  These  last  drew  to  the 
author  great  attention  at  home.  The  first  two 
were  read  with  sympathy  at  the  Palace,  and  the 
Emperor  Nicholas — who  even  in  the  midst  of  war 
could  think  of  the  intellectual  glory  of  his  country 
—gave  orders  that  "  the  life  of  that  young  man 
must  be  looked  after."  That  is  the  expression 
which  Tolstoy  used  in  speaking  of  it.  As  a  result 
— much  to  his  personal  annoyance — he  was  kept 
out  of  harm's  way;  sent,  I  believe,  to  Simpheropol 
for  the  short  remainder  of  the  siege. 

After  peace  was  made  Tolstoy  resigned  from 
the  army,  and  went  to  St.  Petersburg,  twenty-six 
years  old,  and  with  a  great  prestige  for  so  young 
an  author.  Here  he  was  at  once  received  in  a 
flattering  way  by  the  chief  literary  circle  of  the 
capital — Turguenief,  Gontcharof,  Grigorovitch, 
Druzhinin,  and  Ostrofsky — and  on  one  occasion 
they  had  themselves  photographed  together.1 

1  "  Twenty-six  years  old  I  arrived  at  St.  Petersburg  after  the  war, 
and  came  into  relations  with  authors.  They  received  me  in  a  flatter 
ing  way,  like  one  of  their  own  number.  I  had  not  succeeded  in 
taking  any  situation  before  the  views  about  life  of  the  writers  with 
whom  I  became  intimate  had  already  taken  possession  of  me,  and  had 
completely  effaced  in  me  all  my  previous  desires  to  make  myself  better. 
These  views  made  up  a  theory  which  quite  excused  the  license  of 
my  life.  Their  substance  was  in  general,  that  life  continues  to  prog 
ress,  and  that  in  this  development  the  preponderant  part  is  due  to 
us  men  of  thought,  and  especially  to  those  of  us  who  are  artists  and 
poets.  Our  vocation  was  to  instruct  people.  What  was  our  instruc 
tion  there  was  no  need  of  inquiring;  for  it  was  admitted  in  theory 
that  artists  and  poets  instructed  unconsciously.  I  considered  myself 
a  remarkable  artist  and  poet,  and  therefore  very  naturally  accepted 

229 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

Tolstoy  at  last  grew  weary  of  life  at  St.  Peters 
burg  and  returned  to  Yasnaya  Polyana.  The  life 
of  the  capital  did  not  agree  with  his  ideal  of  the 
objects  of  existence.  He  was  young,  obstinate  in 
his  own  opinions,  and  was  inclined  to  deviate  from 
the  accepted  rules  of  literary  art.  But  in  spite  of 
obstinacy  and  eccentricity,  he  was  respected  and 
loved  by  those  who  met  him.  As  his  brothers 
had  died  of  consumption,  and  he  looked  very  deli 
cate  and  was  credited  with  leading  a  very  fast  life, 
fears  were  entertained  for  his  health;  and  Tur 
guenief,  who  was  comparatively  a  near  country 
neighbour,  as  distances  go  in  Russia,  had  a  general 
mandate  to  look  after  him.  Of  Russian  literary 
men  Turguenief  was  perhaps  his  warmest  friend, 
although  he  was  the  constant  object  of  his  raillery; 
and  in  general  conversation  Tolstoy  was  sometimes 
exasperating.  Of  the  results  of  Turguenief  s  ef 
forts  to  keep  Tolstoy  in  order  I  must  speak  later. 

Tolstoy,  while  in  the  country,  kept  on  writing, 
and  showed  only  to  a  moderate  extent  his  peculiar 

this  theory.  I,  an  artist  and  poet,  wrote  and  taught  not  knowing  what. 
For  that  I  was  paid  money,  I  had  excellent  eating,  lodging,  and  so 
ciety:  I  was  famous.  Therefore  what  I  taught  must  be  very  good. 
This  belief  in  the  importance  of  poetry  and  the  development  of  life 
was  a  Faith,  and  I  was  one  of  its  Priests.  Being  a  Priest  was  very 
advantageous  and  very  agreeable,  and  I  lived  a  long  time  in  this  be 
lief  without  doubting  its  truth.  .  .  .  We  were  all  then  convinced 
that  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  speak  and  write  and  print  as  quickly 
as  possible,  and  as  much  as  possible,  and  that  all  that  was  necessary 
for  the  good  of  humanity."—"  Confessions." 

230 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

ideas.  The  next  year,  1857,  he  went  abroad  for 
the  first  time.  He  was  delighted  with  Germany, 
stayed  a  long  time  in  France,  and  went  as  far  as 
Rome.  In  Paris  he  went  to  see  a  man  guillotined 
and  was  greatly  impressed.  He  told  me  the  whole 
story  in  such  a  vivid  way  that  I  fully  expected  he 
would  use  it  in  a  novel;  and  I  could  not  help 
thinking  of  it  afterwards  when  reading  Turgue- 
niefs  remarkable  account  of  the  execution  of 
Troppmann.  But  so  far  it  has  only  furnished  a 
sentence  or  two  in  the  "  Confessions.'* 

His  journey  abroad  gave  rise  to  two  or  three 
short  stories;  but  he  soon  ceased  writing,  to  de 
vote  himself  to  educating  the  serfs  on  his  estate, 
and  in  1860  he  made  another  journey  to  the  West. 
He  married  in  1862,  and  from  that  time  on,  and 
for  fully  ten  years  after  I  knew  him,  devoted 
himself  to  the  enjoyment  of  his  family  life,  and  to 
the  pursuit  of  literature,  without,  however,  neg 
lecting  opportunities  for  well-doing. 

The  Count  said  that  his  family  was  descended 
from  a  Dane  named  Dick,  who,  when  he  came  to 
Russia,  translated  his  name  into  the  corresponding 
Tolstoy  (thick).  The  tradition,  however,  which 
is  received  by  the  genealogists,  traces  the  origin 
of  the  family  to  a  German  named  Indris,  who  came 

to  Tchernigof,   in    1353,   with   his  two   sons   and 

231 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

about  3,000  followers,  all  of  whom  immediately 
accepted  the  doctrine  of  the  Eastern  Church,  and 
Indris  was  renamed  Leontius.  It  was  only  in  the 
fourth  generation  that  one  Andrei  received  the 
surname  of  Tolstoy,  on  account  of  his  figure.  All 
of  the  Tolstoys  who  are  counts,  are  descended 
from  Count  Peter  Andreievitch,  the  well-known 
diplomatist  and  statesman  of  the  times  of  Peter 
and  Catherine  I.,  who  distinguished  himself  dis 
agreeably  by  the  capture  of  Peter's  son  Alexis  at 
Naples.  For  his  services  he  was  made  count  in 
1724,  the  fourth  time  that  this  title  had  been 
given.  Therefore  the  present  Minister  of  the  In 
terior,  Count  Dimitri  Andreievitch,  and  the  late 
Count  Alexis  Constantinovitch,  the  poet  and 
author  of  "  Prince  Serebryanny,"  are  both  distant 
cousins  of  Count  Leo;  but  it  is  necessary  to  go 
back  to  the  son  or  grandson  of  the  first  count  to 
find  a  common  ancestor.  Many  of  the  family, 
both  counts  and  untitled,  have  distinguished  them 
selves  in  war,  in  diplomacy,  in  statesmanship,  in 
literature,  in  the  arts,  and  at  Court.  Each  of  the 
three  Emperors  Alexander  has  had  for  intimate 
friend  a  Count  Tolstoy.  A  cousin  of  the  novelist's 
grandfather,  Count  Peter  Alexandrovitch,  served 
with  distinction  under  Suvarof,  gaining  the  grade 

of  colonel  and  the  cross  of  St.  George  at  the  storm 

232 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

of  Praga,  was  Russian  Commissioner  with  the 
army  of  the  Archduke  Karl,  commander  of  the 
Russian  army  in  Northern  Germany  in  1805,  and 
ambassador  in  Paris  in  1807  and  1808,  when  his 
recall  was  asked  by  Napoleon  because  he  fre 
quented  the  society  of  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain. 
In  1812  he  commanded  the  militia  at  Moscow  and 
organized  the  national  defence;  in  1813  he  com 
manded  a  corps  in  Benningsen's  army  in  the  oper 
ations  against  Dresden  and  Hamburg;  in  1823  he 
was  made  a  member  of  the  Council  of  State  as 
President  of  the  Military  Section,  and  in  1831 
commanded  the  reserve  army  against  the  rebellious 
Poles.  He  is  described  by  Dolgoruky,  who  is  not 
given  to  compliment,  as  "  a  man  of  pre-eminent 
nobility  of  soul,  of  unwavering  constancy,  of  ex 
emplary  unselfishness,  who  ardently  loved  his 
country,  was  faithful  in  friendship,  honourable 
without  the  shadow  of  a  change,  respected  by 
everyone,  and  who,  during  the  whole  seventy- 
five  years  of  his  life,  was  a  chevalier  sans  peur  et 
sans  reproche."  In  fact  he  was  a  worthy  prototype 
of  the  old  Prince  Nicholas  Bolkonsky,  the  father 
of  Prince  Andrei  in  "  War  and  Peace." 

Count  Osterman-Tolstoy  might  have  served  as 
the  original  of  one  incident  in  Byron's  "  Don 
Juan,"  in  having  been  the  handsome  young  lieu- 

233 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

tenant  who  brought  to  Catherine  II.  the  news  of 
the  fall  of  Ismail.  He  speedily  advanced  at  Court, 
inherited  the  immense  fortune  of  his  great-uncles, 
Counts  Ivan  and  Feodor  Osterman,  and  was  al 
lowed  to  add  this  name  to  his  own.  Though  in 
disfavour  under  the  Emperors  Paul  and  Alexander 
I.,  he  nevertheless  took  an  active  part  in  the  war 
of  1812,  and  won  the  battle  of  Kulm  (so  far  as  is 
permitted  even  to  a  Tolstoy  to  win  a  battle),  by 
which  the  tide  was  first  turned  against  Napoleon. 
Later  he  lived  abroad,  took  Fallmerayer  on  a  three 
years'  journey  in  the  East,  and  died  at  Geneva  in 

1837- 

The  novelist's  father,  Nikolas  Hitch,  had  no 
higher  rank  than  Lieutenant-Colonel:  but  his 
uncle,  Feodor  Andreievitch,  the  Senator  and 
Privy  Councillor,  who  died  in  1849,  a*  the  age  of 
ninety-one,  was  a  noted  bibliophile,  whose  splen 
did  collection  of  Slavonic  manuscripts  is  now  in 
the  Public  Library  at  St.  Petersburg;  and  his 
cousin,  Count  Feodor  Petrovitch,  was  a  sculptor 
and  medallist  of  merit,  and  died  in  1873  as  Vice- 
President  and  Professor  in  the  Academy  of  the 
Fine  Arts. 

The  mother  of  the  novelist  was  the  Princess 
Marie  Volkonsky,  daughter  of  a  general  of  Cath 
erine's  time,  and  a  direct  descendant  of  St. 

234 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

Michael,  Prince  of  Tchernigof,  who  was  mar 
tyred  by  the  Mongols  in  1246  for  refusing  to  per 
form  an  act  of  heathen  worship,  and  was  subse 
quently  canonised  by  the  Russian  Church.  Thus 
on  his  mother's  side,  and  also  in  other  ways, 
Count  Leo  Tolstoy  is  a  descendant  of  Rurik. 
Among  his  other  direct  ancestors  we  find  mem 
bers  of  the  princely  houses  of  Trubetzkoy  Gort- 
chakof,  Stchetinin  and  Trockurof,  without  men 
tioning  countless  relationships  and  connections 
with  most  of  the  noble  families  of  Russia. 

I  have  dwelt  thus  at  length  on  the  family  of  the 
Tolstoys,  partly  perhaps  because  I  have  a  personal 
leaning  to  genealogy,  but  chiefly  because  Tolstoy 
is  the  rare  exception  in  Russian  literature  of  a 
novelist  who  really  forms  part  of  the  society  he 
has  undertaken  to  describe,  and  because  of  the 
contrast  of  his  family  history  with  his  present 
religious  and  social  opinions.  Such  contrasts  are 
not  rare  in  Russia. 

IV 

As  we  spent  the  evenings  and  part  of  the 
mornings  in  the  Count's  study,  which  was  full  of 
books,  the  talk  very  naturally  ran  on  literature. 
At  intervals  I  helped  him  to  rearrange  his  library, 
a  good  portion  of  which  consisted  of  old  French 

235 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

books  which  had  descended  to  him  from  his  father 
or  grandfather;  but  which  contained  also  the  best 
imaginative  literature  of  England,  France,  Ger 
many,  and  Italy,  not  to  speak  of  Russian  books 
and  an  enviable  collection  of  works  about  Napo 
leon  and  his  times  which  were  in  use  for  "  War 
and  Peace."  Of  these  latter,  some  rare  books  I 
was  able  afterwards  to  obtain;  others  I  still  envy 
him.  Unfortunately  I  have  mislaid  most  of  my 
notes  with  regard  to  our  literary  conversations. 
Certain  things,  however,  made  a  strong  impres 
sion  upon  me. 

Tolstoy  had  a  very  high  opinion  of  the  English 
novel,  not  only  as  a  work  of  art  but  especially  for 
its  naturalism — a  word  not  then  in  vogue.  "  In 
French  literature,"  he  said,  "  I  prize,  above  all, 
the  novels  of  Alexandre  Dumas  and  of  Paul  de 
Kock."  At  this  I  opened  my  eyes  wide,  being 
at  that  time  strongly  imbued  with  the  ideas  of  the 
school  then  prevalent.  "  No,"  he  said,  "  don't 
tell  me  any  of  that  nonsense  that  Paul  de  Kock  is 
immoral.  He  is,  sometimes,  according  to  English 
notions,  improper.  He  is  more  or  less  what  the 
French  call  leste  and  Gaulois;  but  he  is  never  im 
moral.  Whatever  he  may  say  in  his  books,  and 
in  despite  of  his  little  loose  jokes,  his  stories  are 

perfectly  moral  in  tendency.     He  is  the   French 

236 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

Dickens.  His  characters  are  all  drawn  from  life, 
and  very  perfectly  too.  When  I  was  in  Paris  I 
used  to  spend  half  my  days  in  the  omnibuses, 
simply  for  the  amusement  of  looking  at  the  people; 
and  I  can  assure  you  that  nearly  every  passenger 
had  come  out  of  one  of  Paul  de  Kock's  novels. 
And  as  to  Dumas,  every  novel-writer  ought  to 
know  him  by  heart.  His  plots  are  marvellous,  to 
say  nothing  of  his  workmanship :  I  can  read  him 
again  and  again;  but  his  plots  and  intrigues  form 
his  strong  point."  For  Balzac  he  did  not  care  so 
much.  Among  other  writers  I  can  now  only  re 
call  Schopenhauer,  for  whom  at  that  time  he  had 
a  great  admiration,  and  whose  German  style  he 
particularly  praised. 

We  talked  of  contemporary  Russian  authors, 
and  the  conversation  naturally  fell  upon  his  own 
books,  of  which  he  spoke  with  great  frankness. 
"  War  and  Peace,"  which  was  then  in  publication, 
afforded  the  subject  for  a  long  talk;  but  of  this  I 
can  only  give  the  result,  and  not  in  so  many  words 
what  he  said. 

"  War  and  Peace  "  was  originally  published  in 
six  parts,  beginning  in  1865,  and  not  as  usual  in 
Katkof's  Russian  Messenger.  Four  numbers  had 
then  been  issued,  had  had  a  very  great  sale,  and 
had  been  read  by  everybody.  These  carried  the 

237 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

story  down  to  the  battle  of  Borodino.  The  final 
portions  did  not  appear  for  a  year  or  so  afterward. 
There  had  been,  of  course,  some  hostile  criticism, 
to  which  Tolstoy  replied  in  Bartenief's  historical 
journal,  Russian  Archives,  at  about  this  time,  and 
much  in  the  same  way  that  he  talked  about  the 
book  to  me. 

It  may  be  remarked  here  that  before  writing 
"  War  and  Peace,"  Tolstoy  began  a  novel  to  be 
called  "  The  Decembrists "  (Dekabristy),  on  the 
theme  of  the  attempted  revolution  of  December 
if,  1825  (on  the  accession  of  the  Emperor  Nich 
olas),  in  which  so  many  well-born  Russians,  in 
cluding  several  of  his  own  relatives  and  family 
connections,  had  taken  part.  At  this  time,  before 
the  rise  of  destructive  Nihilism,  owing  in  part  to 
the  return  of  several  of  the  participators,  who  had 
been  pardoned  by  the  Emperor  Alexander  after 
a  sojourn  of  over  forty  years  in  Siberia,  the  his 
tory  of  this  conspiracy  greatly  occupied  the  Rus 
sian  public.  But  "  in  trying  to  bring  to  life  again 
in  his  own  mind  the  period  of  the  Decembrists, 
he  could  not  help  going  back  in  thought  to  the 
preceding  period — the  past  of  his  heroes.  Grad 
ually  he  penetrated  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
causes  of  the  events  that  he  wished  to  describe — 
into  the  family  history,  the  education,  the  social 

238 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

conditions  of  the  characters  he  had  chosen.  Final 
ly  he  stopped  at  the  time  of  the  Napoleonic  wars," 
and  wrote  what  we  all  know. 

The  idea  of  "  The  Decembrists  "  was  not  lost 
sight  of,  and  the  reader  who  remembers  among 
the  later  chapters  of  "  War  and  Peace "  those 
that  describe  the  home  life  of  Pierre  and  Natasha 
will  see,  if  he  be  acquainted  with  Russian  history, 
how  skilfully  the  ground  is  prepared  for  another 
epical  romance  of  a  similar  character.  Diis  aliter 
visum.  Twice  before  1878  the  project  was  taken 
up,  and  the  opening  chapters  were  re-written,  but 
it  was  then  abandoned.  In  the  first  draught  Pierre 
and  his  family  appear  in  Moscow  on  their  return 
after  their  long  exile  in  Siberia. 

"'War  and  Peace,'"  said  Tolstoy,  "is  not  a 
novel,  still  less  a  poem,  still  less  an  historical 
chronicle.  It  is  not  presumption  on  my  part  if  I 
keep  clear  of  customary  forms.  The  history  of 
Russian  literature  from  Pushkin  down  presents 
many  similar  examples.  From  the  '  Dead  Souls  ' 
of  Gogol  to  the  '  Dead  House '  of  Dostoiefsky 
there  is  not  a  single  artistic  prose  work,  of  more 
than  average  merit,  which  keeps  entirely  to  the 
usual  form  of  a  novel  or  a  poem. 

"  Some  of  my  readers  have  said  that  the  char 
acter  of  the  times  is  not  sufficiently  shown.  I 

239 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

know  what  they  mean — the  horrors  of  serfdom, 
the  walling  up  of  wives,  the  flogging  of  grown-up 
sons,  the  Saltytchikha,  as  she  is  commonly  called 
(that  Madame  Saltykof  who,  in  the  time  of 
Catherine  II.,  in  the  course  of  eleven  or  twelve 
years  had  over  a  hundred  of  her  serfs  whipped  to 
death,  chiefly  women  and  girls,  for  not  washing 
her  linen  properly),  and  things  like  that.  The 
fact  is  that  I  did  not  find  all  this  a  true  expression 
of  the  character  of  the  times.  After  studying  no 
end  of  letters,  journals,  and  traditions  I  did  not 
find  such  horrors  worse  than  in  our  own  times  or 
any  other.  In  those  times  people  also  loved, 
hated,  sought  the  truth,  tried  to  do  good,  and 
were  led  away  by  their  passions.  There  was  also 
then  a  complicated,  thoughtful,  moral  life,  perhaps 
even  more  refined  than  now,  in  the  highest  class. 
Our  traditions  of  that  epoch  are  drawn  from  the 
exceptions.  The  character  of  that  time  comes 
from  the  greater  separation  of  the  highest  class 
from  the  rest,  the  ruling  philosophy,  the  peculi 
arities  of  education,  and  especially  the  habit  of 
talking  French;  and  it  is  that  character  which  I 
tried,  as  far  as  I  could,  to  portray. 

'*  You  spoke  of  the  similarity  of  some  of  the 
names,   such  as  Bolkonsky,   Drubetzkoy,   Bilibin, 

Kuragin,   etc.,  with  well   known   Russian   names. 

240 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

Yes,  that  I  did  purposely.  In  making  imaginary 
personages  act  with  real  historical  characters, 
there  seemed  to  me  to  be  something  awkward  for 
the  ear  if  Count  Rostoptchin  talked  with  a  Prince 
Pronsky,  or  Strelsky,  or  some  other  made-up 
name.  Although  Bolkonsky  and  Drubetzkoy 
are  not  Volkonsky  and  Trubetzkoy,  yet  they  have 
a  sound  which  is  natural  and  customary  in  Russian 
aristocratic  circles.  I  couldn't  invent  names  for 
everybody,  like  Bezutchy  and  Rostof,  which  did 
not  seem  false  to  the  ear,  and  I  tried  to  get 
around  the  difficulty  by  taking  the  names  of  well- 
known  families  with  the  change  of  a  letter  or  a 
syllable.  I  should  be  sorry  if  this  should  lead 
people  to  think  that  I  wanted  to  represent  partic 
ular  persons,  especially  because  that  sort  of  litera 
ture  which  consists  in  the  description  of  persons 
who  really  exist  or  have  existed  has  nothing  in 
common  with  my  purpose.  Maria  Dmitrievna 
Akhrosimof  le  terrible  dragon  (Madame  Ofrosimof) 
and  Denisof  (the  celebrated  guerilla  leader  Denis- 
Davydof)  are  the  only  characters  to  which  invol 
untarily  and  without  thinking  I  gave  names  re 
sembling  those  of  two  characteristic  and  charming 
personages  of  the  society  of  that  time.  That  is 
my  fault,  caused  by  the  special  characteristics  of 

these  two  persons;  but  the  reader  must  admit  that 
VOL.  I.— 16  241 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

there  is  nothing  resembling  the  truth  in  their 
actions.  All  the  other  characters  are  entirely  im 
aginary,  and  even  for  myself  have  no  original, 
either  in  tradition  or  in  actual  life." 

In  spite  of  this  declaration  the  Count's  family 
friends  insist  that  in  the  Princess  Marie  Bolkonsky 
he  drew  an  ideal  portrait  of  his  own  mother;  but 
it  is  possible  that  the  similarity  of  the  name  (Prin 
cess  Marie  Volkonsky)  may  have  deceived  their 
imaginations  into  seeing  a  likeness  of  character. 
The  faithful  picture  of  the  times  is  due  to  a  study 
of  memoirs,  old  letters,  and  personal  accounts, 
quite  as  conscientious  as  that  given  by  any  his 
torian  to  his  material.  There  were  still  living  in 
Moscow  many  old  people  whose  early  recollections 
went  back  to  the  burning  of  Moscow,  and  Tolstoy 
himself  must  in  his  younger  days  have  known 
many  who  had  taken  at  least  a  minor  part  in  the 
events  which  form  the  groundwork  of  his  story. 
The  Princess  Odoiefsky  told  me  that  some  ladies, 
and  especially  a  Miss  P.,  a  distant  connection  of 
Tolstoy,  and  a  common  friend  of  us  all,  had  been 
very  serviceable  in  getting  at  the  old  people  of 
Moscow,  and  in  writing  out  their  stories  and 
anecdotes.  In  fact,  society  had  changed  so  little 
in  Moscow  and  the  country,  up  to  the  time  of  the 

Crimean   War,   that   had   Tolstoy   described   only 

242 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

what  he  had  himself  seen,  his  picture  would  have 
been  true  externally  of  the  earlier  period;  but  it 
would  have  lacked  the  breath  of  life,  the  spirit 
which  animated  the  men  of  1812. 

The  indication  of  sources  detracts  no  more  from 
the  merits  of  the  novelist  than  from  those  of  the 
historian.  At  times  it  is  easy  to  see  what  influ 
ences  were  at  work  in  "  War  and  Peace."  The 
history  and  influence  of  freemasonry  in  Russia 
was  just  at  that  time  a  new  subject  for  research, 
as  the  barriers  against  historical  study  and  criti 
cism  were  being  gradually  relaxed.  The  reading, 
by  the  author,  of  a  series  of  articles  in  the  Russian 
Messenger,  on  freemasonry  in  the  time  of  Cath 
erine,  and  the  book  of  Longinof  on  Novikof,  made 
Pierre  become  a  mason,  and  further  guides  were 
found  in  the  large  collection  of  masonic  books, 
emblems,  and  rubbish,  in  the  public  museum  at 
Moscow,  which  contains  most  of  the  archives  and 
property  of  the  Russian  masonic  lodges  when  they 
were  closed  and  seized. 

One  incident  in  the  latter  part  of  the  story,  the 
indecision  of  the  Countess  Helen,  Pierre's  wife,  as 
to  her  choice  of  a  new  husband,  is  founded  on  an 
occurrence  at  St.  Petersburg  while  the  story  was 
in  progress.  A  certain  Madame  A.,  although  she 
was  not  yet  divorced  from  her  husband,  was  eagerly 

243 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

courted  by  two  suitors,  the  old  Chancellor,  Prince 
Gortchakof,  and  the  Duke  of  Leuchtenberg,  the 
Emperor's  nephew.  The  Emperor  forbade  both 
the  rivals  to  marry,  one  because  of  the  relationship, 
the  other  on  account  of  his  age  and  family.  The 
issue  of  the  story  was  different.  The  lady  lived 
for  a  while  with  Prince  Gortchakof  as  his  niece, 
and  in  that  capacity  presided  at  his  diplomatic 
dinners;  subsequently  she  ran  away  with  the 
Duke,  and  years  after,  in  1879,  married  him  mor- 
ganatically,  with  the  title  of  Countess  Beauhar- 
nais. 

The  Vicomte  E.  M.  de  Vogue,  in  his  interesting 
and  appreciative  book  "  Le  Roman  Russe,"  seems 
to  imply  that  Tolstoy's  battle  descriptions  are  im 
itated  from  the  celebrated  account  of  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  in  Stendhal's  "  Chartreuse  de  Parme," 
the  idea  of  which,  Sainte-Beuve  in  turn  says,  "  was 
taken  from  an  English  book,  '  The  Memoirs  of  a 
Soldier '  of  the  Seventy-first  Regiment,  who  took 
part  in  the  battle  of  Vittoria  without  understand 
ing  anything  about  it;  much  as  Fabrice  took  part 
in  that  of  Waterloo,  asking  himself  aftenvard  if 
he  really  had  been  in  a  battle  and  had  really 
fought."  The  "Chartreuse  de  Parme,"  with  all 
its  merits,  is  a  signal  example  of  how  an  historical 

novel  should  not  be  written.     Tolstoy  made  im- 

244 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

aginary  take  part  with  real  characters  in  historical 
events.  Stendhal  does  the  same  partially  at 
Waterloo  and  in  Milan;  but  after  that  all  is  ficti 
tious,  and,  worst  of  all,  real  names  are  given  to 
purely  imaginary  places.  The  Parma  of  the  novel 
is  in  no  way,  either  historically  or  topographically, 
like  the  real  Parma,  however  much  it  may  be  like 
Modena. 

In  speaking  not  of  this,  but  of  his  treatment  of 
history  in  general,  Tolstoy  said  that  the  historian 
and  the  artist,  in  describing  an  historical  epoch, 
have  totally  different  aims  and  treat  of  different 
subjects.  "  An  historian  would  not  be  right  if  he 
tried  to  present  an  historical  personage  in  all  his 
entirety,  in  all  his  complicated  relations  to  all 
sides  of  life.  Neither  would  an  artist  do  his  duty 
if  he  always  gave  him  his  historical  signification. 
Kutuzof  was  not  always  riding  on  a  white  horse, 
with  his  field-glass  in  his  hand,  pointing  at  the 
enemy.  Rostoptchin  was  not  always  with  a  torch 
setting  fire  to  his  house  at  Voronovo  (in  fact  he 
never  did  this  at  all),  and  the  Empress  Maria 
Feodorovna  did  not  always  stand  in  an  ermine 
cloak  resting  her  hand  on  the  '  Code  of  Laws/ 
But  this  is  the  way  in  which  the  popular  imagi 
nation  pictures  them.  The  historian  deals  with 
heroes;  the  artist  with  men.  The  historian  treats 

245 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

of  the  results  of  events;  the  artist  of  the  facts  con 
nected  with  the  event. 

"  Battles  are,  of  course,  nearly  always  described 
in  a  contradictory  way  by  the  two  sides;  but,  be 
sides  this,  there  is  in  every  description  of  a  battle 
a  certain  amount  of  falsehood  which  is  indispen 
sable  on  account  of  the  necessity  of  describing  in 
a  few  words  the  actions  of  thousands  of  people, 
distributed  over  a  space  of  several  miles,  all  under 
the  strongest  moral  excitement,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  fear  of  disgrace  or  death. 

"  Descriptions  of  battles  generally  say  that  such 
troops  were  sent  to  attack  such  a  point,  and  were 
afterwards  ordered  to  retreat,  etc.,  as  if  people  sup 
posed  that  the  same  discipline  which  on  a  parade 
ground  moves  tens  of  thousands  of  men  by  the 
will  of  one,  could  have  the  same  effect  where  it  is 
a  question  of  life  or  death.  Everyone  who  has 
been  in  a  war  knows  how  untrue  this  is,  and  yet 
on  this  supposition  military  reports  are  made  out, 
and  on  them  descriptions  of  battles  are  written. 

"  By  the  way,  a  friend  told  me  what  was  said 
by  Nikolai  Nikolaievitch  Muravief-Karsky  about 
my  description  of  Schongraben,  which  confirms 
my  conviction.  Muravief,  who  had  been  himself 
a  commander-in-chief,  said  that  he  had  never  read 

a  truer  account  of  a  fight,  and  from  his  own  ex- 

246 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

perience  he  knew  how  impossible  it  was  to  carry 
out  the  orders  of  the  commander-in-chief  on  the 
field  of  battle. 

"  Go  about  all  the  troops  immediately  after  an 
engagement,  or  even  on  the  second  or  third  day, 
before  the  official  reports  are  written,  and  question 
all  the  soldiers  and  the  higher  and  lower  officers 
how  things  went:  all  these  people  will  tell  you 
what  they  really  felt  and  saw,  and  you  will  receive 
an  impression  which  is  grand,  complicated,  im 
mensely  varied,  and  solemn,  but  by  no  means 
clear;  you  will  learn  from  no  one,  still  less  from 
the  commander-in-chief,  exactly  how  the  whole 
took  place.  But  in  two  or  three  days  official  re 
ports  begin  to  come  in,  talkers  begin  to  describe 
what  they  never  saw,  finally  the  whole  report  is 
made  up,  and  this  creates  a  sort  of  public  opinion 
in  the  army.  It  is  so  much  easier  to  settle  all 
one's  doubts  and  questions  by  this  false,  but  always 
clear  and  flattering  account.  If  in  a  month  or 
two  you  question  a  man  who  took  part  in  the  bat 
tle,  you  will  no  longer  feel  in  his  story  that  raw, 
living  material  that  was  there  before,  for  he  will 
tell  it  according  to  the  official  report.  The  details 
of  the  battle  of  Borodino  were  told  to  me  by  many 
shrewd  men  who  took  part  in  it  and  are  still  alive. 
They  all  told  the  same  story,  all  according  to  the 

247 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

untrue  accounts  of  Mikailofsky-Danilefsky,  Glinka, 
etc.,  and  even  related  the  same  details  in  the  same 
way,  though  they  must  have  been  miles  off  from 
one  another. 

"  After  the  loss  of  Sevastopol,  General  Kryz- 
hanofsky,  the  chief  of  artillery,  sent  me  the  reports 
of  the  artillery  officers  from  all  the  bastions  and 
asked  me  to  combine  these  twenty  or  more  reports 
into  one.  I  am  very  sorry  that  I  did  not  take 
copies  of  those  reports.  It  was  an  excellent  ex 
ample  of  the  na'ive,  indispensable,  military  lie  out 
of  which  descriptions  are  made.  I  presume  that 
many  of  my  comrades,  who  then  made  those  re 
ports,  would  laugh  at  the  recollection  of  their 
being  ordered  by  their  superiors  to  write  about 
what  they  never  saw.  All  who  have  experienced 
a  war  know  how  fit  Russians  are  to  do  their  mili 
tary  duty,  and  how  unfit  they  are  to  describe  it 
with  the  indispensable,  bragging  lie.  Everybody 
knows  that  in  our  armies  this  duty,  the  compilation 
of  reports,  is  generally  performed  by  our  officers 
of  non-Russian  race. 

"  But  besides  the  necessary  falsehood  in  the 
description  of  events,  I  find  a  false  way  of  under 
standing  events.  Often  when  studying  the  two 
chief  historical  productions  on  this  epoch,  Thiers 
and  Mikailofsky-Danilefsky,  I  am  astonished  how 

248 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

such  books  could  be  printed  or  read.  Without 
speaking  of  the  exposition  of  the  same  events  in 
the  same  serious,  important  tone,  with  references 
to  authorities,  and  yet  diametrically  opposed  to 
each  other,  I  have  found  in  these  histories  descrip 
tions  of  a  sort  that  I  did  not  know  whether  to 
laugh  or  to  cry  over  them,  when  I  remembered 
that  these  books  are  the  sole  memorials  of  the 
epoch  and  have  millions  of  readers.  I'll  give  a 
single  instance  from  Thiers,  who,  in  speaking  of 
the  forged  Russian  bank-notes  brought  by  Napo 
leon,  says : .'  Using  these  means  in  an  act  of  benevo 
lence  worthy  of  himself  and  of  the  French  army, 
he  distributed  assistance  to  the  sufferers  by  the 
conflagration.  But  provisions  being  too  precious 
to  be  given  for  long  to  strangers,  for  the  most 
part  enemies,  Napoleon  preferred  to  furnish  them 
with  money,  and  had  paper  rubles  distributed  to 
them/  If  Thiers  had  fully  understood  what  he 
was  saying,  could  he  have  written  in  such  a  way 
of  such  an  immoral  act?  " 

This  led  to  a  long  discussion  of  the  French  oc 
cupation,  and  of  the  burning  of  Moscow,  which 
Tolstoy  maintained  in  even  stronger  terms  than 
those  he  afterwards  employed  in  his  novel,  was 
solely  due  to  accident.  He  showed  me  the  large 
library  of  books  and  authorities  that  he  had  col- 

249 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

lected  for  his  studies,  and  pointed  out  to  me  some 
interesting  memoirs  and  pamphlets  which  are  rare 
and  little  known.  Of  Rostoptchin  he  spoke  with 
great  contempt.  Rostoptchin  always  denied  that 
he  had  had  a  hand  in  the  burning  of  Moscow  until 
he  found  out  that,  to  excuse  themselves,  the 
French  had  attributed  it  to  him,  and  that  in  his 
visit  to  France  after  the  restoration  this  was 
thought  a  glorious  deed  of  patriotism.  He  at  first 
accepted  it  modestly,  and  then  boldly  boasted  of 
it.  The  legend  has  been  kept  alive,  partly  by  the 
chauvinism  of  French  historians  and  partly  by  the 
influence  of  the  Segurs  (one  of  whom  married  his 
daughter)  and  their  numerous  relatives  and  liter 
ary  following. 

Count  Tolstoy  insisted  on  his  accuracy,  and 
especially  on  his  conscientiousness  in  historical 
matters  and  said :  "  Wherever  historical  characters 
act  and  speak  in  my  novel,  I  have  imagined  noth 
ing,  and  have  conformed  myself  strictly  to  his 
torical  materials  and  the  accounts  of  witnesses.'* 
From  this  the  conversation  branched  off  to  the 
activity  and  effect  of  historical  characters  on  events, 
all  of  which  was  afterward  said  so  fully  in  the  epi 
logue  of  "  War  and  Peace  "  that  there  is  no  need 
to  repeat  it  here. 

In  his  early  stories  Tolstoy  had  already  so  suc- 
250 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

ceeded  in  combining  vivid  realistic  descriptions 
of  places  and  persons  with  the  moral  and  meta 
physical  reflections  and  reasonings  of  the  charac 
ters  that  it  was  natural  for  the  reader  to  say: 
"  This  is  a  real  personage;  "  '  That  is  a  genuine 
experience;"  "The  author  must  have  passed 
through  that  phase  in  order  to  portray  it  so  well." 
Tolstoy  laughingly,  but  in  all  seriousness,  denied 
that  there  was  the  slightest  autobiographical  char 
acter  in  the  three  sketches,  "  Childhood,"  "  Boy 
hood,"  and  "  Youth,"  which  in  the  translations 
lately  made  have  been  given  the  names  of  "  Souve 
nirs  "  and  "  Mes  Memoires."  Indeed,  neither  do 
the  incidents  of  the  book  correspond  to  the  facts 
of  Tolstoy's  life,  nor  does  the  moral  and  mental 
development  of  Irtenief  conform  to  what  Tolstoy 
has  told  about  himself  in  his  "  Confessions."  Now 
that  Tolstoy  has  become  a  figure  in  the  religious 
world,  his  novels  and  tales  have  been  carefully 
studied  by  many  who  seek  in  them  something 
more  than  their  artistic  merits;  and  wherever  there 
are  traces  of  the  ideas  about  life  and  its  objects, 
which  have  been  so  greatly  developed  in  his  mys 
tical  writings,  they  choose  to  consider  these  por 
tions  as  autobiographical.  Thus  Tolstoy  is  found 
to  be  present  in  "  The  Cossacks,"  in  "  War  and 
Peace,"  and  in  "  Anna  Karenin  "  in  the  respective 

251 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

characters  of  Olenin,  Pierre,  and  Levin.  It  would 
be  strange  if  he  were  not  to  some  extent  there 
present,  as  he  invented  them.  But  between  put 
ting  a  little  part  and  parcel  of  the  author's  self 
not  only  into  these,  but  into  every  character  he 
drew,  and  autobiography,  there  is  a  great  differ 
ence.  This  constant  tendency  to  see  the  person 
ality  of  the  author  in  his  heroes,  whether  the 
author  in  question  be  Byron  or  Tolstoy,  seems  to 
me  to  be  a  perversion  of  fact  and  a  perversion  of 
criticism.  In  "  Childhood,"  "  Boyhood,"  and 
''  Youth  "  there  are  pictures  of  Russian  family  life 
so  carefully  drawn  and  so  well  coloured  that  their 
truth  is  recognised  at  once  by  every  Russian  of 
that  class  in  society,  and  by  every  foreigner  who 
has  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  intimate  with  Rus 
sian  families  where  there  are  a  lot  of  children.  On 
reading  the  book  again,  after  twenty  years,  certain 
things  strike  me  now  as  peculiarities  of  Russian 
life  which  were  then  so  natural  as  to  pass  unnoticed. 
For  instance,  Nicolai  Irtenief  stealing  off  in  a 
sledge  to  make  his  second  confession  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  and  saying  that  this  was  the  first  time  that 
he  had  ever  been  in  the  street  alone  without  his 
tutor  or  some  one  of  the  family.  The  pedagogue 
(TraiSaywyos)  to  sleep  in  his  room,  to  take  him  to 

and  from  school,  and  follow  his  every  movement, 

252 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

is  so  usual  a  character  in  the  life  of  every  well 
brought  up  Russian  boy  (as  indeed  in  the  life  of 
some  other  European  countries)  that  a  foreigner — 
even  an  American — as  soon  as  he  becomes  inti 
mate  with  Russian  life,  forgets  the  strangeness  of 
him.  In  the  characters  of  this  book  Tolstoy,  with 
the  aid  of  his  own  recollections  and  his  lively 
imagination,  simply  tried  to  put  himself  into  the 
place  of  the  boys,  with  the  ideas  that  he  thought 
he  might  have  had  at  the  time.  The  boy  who 
approaches  nearest  to  Tolstoy's  character  is  not 
Irtenief  but  Prince  Nekhliudof,  who  reappears 
with  some  of  the  author's  peculiar  views  in  some 
of  the  stories  of  the  Caucasus,  in  "  A  Landlord's 
Morning/'  and  in  "  Lucerne."  While  writing  the 
other  books  just  mentioned  the  author  was  grap 
pling  with  some  of  the  great  problems  of  human 
life,  and  he  made  Olenin,  Pierre,  and  Levin  do 
some  of  his  thinking  for  him,  without  intending 
to  give  them  any  portion  of  his  individuality.  At 
the  time  of  my  visit,  for  instance,  Tolstoy  was  still 
occupied  with  his  studies  in  freemasonry,  and  was 
diligently  reading  the  mystical  writings  of  Novi- 
kof  and  others  for  the  sole  purpose  of  understand 
ing  the  psychological  history  of  the  early  part  of 
the  century,  and  not  with  any  intention  of  seeking 
the  highest  benefits  of  humanity  through  such 

253 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

means.  He  was  simply  reading  up — cramming 
if  you  will — for  the  character  of  Pierre;  and 
Pierre's  dabblings  with  freemasonry  must  not 
therefore  be  thought  to  represent  any  experience 
or  mental  process  of  Count  Tolstoy. 

"  The  Cossacks,"  Tolstoy  assured  me,  was  a  true 
story  so  far  as  the  plot  is  concerned,  and  was  told 
to  him  by  an  officer  one  night  when  they  were 
travelling  together,  not  even  in  the  Caucasus  but 
in  the  north  of  Russia.  What  he  had  written 
was,  however,  only  the  first  part,  and  he  then  still 
hoped  some  day  to  write  the  rest.  Perhaps  on 
the  whole  it  is  best  as  it  is;  as,  though  a  fragment, 
it  is  perfect  in  its  way — an  idyll  and  not  a  complete 
story.  I  told  the  Count  of  my  first  acquaintance 
with  Turguenief  at  Baden-Baden  the  year  before, 
and  that  he  had  advised  me,  if  I  wished  to  do  any 
thing  more,  to  translate  "  The  Cossacks,"  which 
he  considered  the  finest  and  most  perfect  product 
of  Russian  Literature.  I  asked  Tolstoy's  permis 
sion  to  translate  it,  which  was  readily  given,  but 
I  tried  my  hand  first  on  one  of  the  sketches  of 
Sevastopol,  and,  although  I  began  at  "  The  Cos 
sacks,"  changes  of  post  and  varied  duties  pre 
vented  my  finishing  the  translation  for  fully  ten 
years. 


254 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

V 

Tolstoy  received  with  evident  pleasure  the 
compliments  of  Turguenief,  and  spoke  of  the 
latter's  books  with  appreciation — "  Smoke  "  had 
been  published  not  long  before — and  of  the  man 
in  terms  of  affection  and  sympathy.  From  noth 
ing  that  he  said,  or  that  Turguenief  ever  said  on 
the  various  occasions  when  he  talked  to  me  about 
Tolstoy,  to  whom  he  even  gave  a  letter  of  intro 
duction,  could  I  have  ever  imagined  that  there 
was  then  a  wide  breach  between  the  two  friends, 
and  that  the  quarrel  was  not  made  up  till  ten 
years  later.  I  learned  this  only  afterwards,  and 
gradually  came  to  the  whole  story  of  the  rupture. 
A  brief  account  of  their  mutual  relations  may  be 
interesting,  and  is  almost  necessary  to  a  proper 
appreciation  of  Tolstoy  at  that  time. 

Turguenief  s  admiration  of  Tolstoy's  genius  and 
power  never  varied,  although  his  criticisms  were 
sometimes  harsh,  when  it  seemed  to  him  in  special 
cases  that  his  brother  author  had  taken  the  wrong 
road.  The  first  reference  to  Tolstoy  in  his  letters 
seems  almost  prophetic.  He  wrote  from  his 
country  place  at  Spasskoe,  on  October  24,  1854, 
when  Tolstoy  was  still  in  the  army :  "  I  am  im 
mensely  delighted  with  the  continuation  of  '  Boy- 

255 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

hood; '  may  God  give  Tolstoy  long  life,  as  I  hope 
he  will  astonish  all  of  us,  for  he  is  a  talent  of  the 
first  rank.  I  made  yesterday  the  acquaintance  of 
his  sister,  who  has  just  married  another  Tolstoy, 
a  highly  pleasing,  sympathetic  woman."  In  his 
letters  of  1855-56  there  are  some  words  of  praise 
for  the  Sevastopol  sketches.  After  the  war — as  I 
have  already  said — the  two  writers  met  and  saw 
each  other  frequently  at  St.  Petersburg,  as  well 
as  in  the  country,  where  they  visited  each  other 
for  the  purpose  of  shooting.  The  signs  of  dis 
sension  soon  began  to  appear.  The  natures  of  the 
two  men  were  not  at  that  time  harmonious,  and 
their  ideas  ran  in  very  different  channels.  Tol 
stoy,  who  was  young,  and  who  as  a  writer  was 
somewhat  of  a  spoilt  child,  whose  ways  smacked 
a  little  still  of  the  freedom  of  the  camp,  was  in 
clined  to  rebel  against  the  tutelage  and  paternal 
care  which  Turguenief  seemed  to  be  exercising 
over  him.  He  amused  himself  not  only  by  escap 
ing  from  the  surveillance  of  his  friends,  but  by 
occasionally  enticing  them  to  a  late  supper  or  a 
wild  night.  Besides  that  he  was  much  given  to 
persiflage,  which  did  not  always  accord  with  the 
serious  humour  of  his  friend.  After  leaving  Rus 
sia  for  Paris  in  the  autumn  of  1856,  Turguenief 
wrote  to  Tolstoy  (November  26th)  in  reply  to  a 

256 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

letter  of  his,  "  I  have  reflected  seriously  over  all 
that  you  write,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  you  are 
wrong.  I  can  be  quite  frank  to  you,  because  it 
would  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  false  where  you 
are  concerned.  We  seem  to  have  made  our  ac 
quaintance  in  an  awkward  way  and  not  at  the 
right  time:  when  we  see  each  other  again  things 
will  go  smoother  and  better.  I  feel  that  I  love 
you  as  a  man;  as  regards  the  writer  words  are 
superfluous.  But  there  is  much  in  you  with 
which  I  am  not  quite  satisfied,  so  that  I  thought 
it  better  to  keep  away  from  you:  when  we  see 
each  other  again  we  will  try  to  go  hand  in  hand 
and  perhaps  will  succeed  better.  But  here,  far 
away  from  you,  odd  as  it  may  sound,  my  heart 
hangs  on  you  as  on  a  brother,  and  I  am  very  ten 
derly  disposed  towards  you:  perhaps  with  time 
everything  good  will  come  of  this.  I  heard  of 
your  illness  and  was  much  troubled;  but  I  beg 
you  to  banish  all  remembrance  of  it.  You  are 
anxious  about  yourself,  and  think  perhaps  of  con 
sumption — but,  by  God,  you  have  it  not/'  Then 
follow  questions  about  Tolstoy's  sister  and  brother, 
talk  about  common  friends,  and  about  the  state  of 
affairs  in  Paris,  and  then  literature  comes  up. 
"  You  have  already  finished  the  first  number  of 
'  Youth : '  that  is  splendid.  How  vexed  I  am 
VOL.  I.— 17  257 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

that  I  cannot  hear  you  read  it !  If  you  do  not  go 
off  on  by-ways,  you  will  go  far.  I  wish  you 
health,  activity,  and  spiritual  freedom.  .  .  .  As 
concerns  my  '  Faust,'  I  scarcely  believe  it  will 
please  you.  My  writings  were  at  one  time  able 
to  please  you,  and  possibly  even  to  influence  you, 
but  only  until  you  became  independent;  now  you 
can  learn  nothing  more  from  me.  You  see  only 
the  difference  of  the  style,  the  slips  and  the  faults; 
you  need  now  only  to  study  men,  your  own  heart, 
and  really  great  writers.  I  am  only  a  writer  of 
the  transition  period,  and  am  only  good  for 
people  who  are  in  the  transition  period." 

About  this  time  he  wrote  to  a  literary  friend, 
Druzhinin :  "  People  tell  me  that  you  sympathise 
with  Tolstoy,  and  that  he  is  become  very  polished 
and  clear.  I  am  much  delighted  with  that. 
When  this  young  wine  has  gone  through  the  proc 
ess  of  fermentation  it  will  be  a  drink  fit  for  the 
gods/' 

A  few  days  after,  December  8,  1856,  he  writes 
again  to  Tolstoy : 

"  DEAR  TOLSTOY  :  My  good  genius  took  me 
yesterday  to  the  Post-Office  and  inspired  me  to 
ask  whether  there  were  any  letters  for  me  Poste 
Restante,  although  I  supposed  that  all  my  friends 
had  my  Paris  address.  There  I  really  found  your 

258 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

letter  in  which  you  speak  of  my  *  Faust.'  You 
will  easily  understand  with  what  joy  I  read  it. 
Your  sympathy  gave  me  deep  and  sincere  pleas 
ure.  Your  whole  letter  breathes  a  gentle  and 
calm  feeling,  a  friendly  peace;  and  it  only  re 
mains  for  me  to  stretch  my  hand  over  the  gulf 
which  had  long  ago  become  a  scarcely  notice 
able  crack;  about  which  we  will  think  no  more, 
as  it  is  not  worth  the  trouble.  I  am  shy  about 
speaking  on  one  thing  which  you  mentioned  in 
your  letter,  .  .  .  but  may  everything  turn  out 
for  the  best,  and  may  it  bring  to  you  that  peace 
of  soul  which  you  so  need — or  rather  did  need 
when  I  learned  to  know  you.  As  I  see,  you 
sympathise  for  the  moment  very  much  with  Druz- 
hinin,  and  are  under  his  influence.  Very  well,  but 
take  care  that  you  don't  eat  yourself  sick  off  him. 
When  I  was  at  your  age  none  but  enthusiastic 
natures  had  any  influence  over  me;  but  you  are 
a  very  different  man  from  me,  and  it  is  quite 
possible  that  his  journal,  The  Times,  is  now 
changed." 

Turguenief  saw  Tolstoy  often  during  the  latter's 
journey  abroad,  but  wrote  to  a  friend  (March, 
J857)  •'  "I  cannot  thoroughly  sympathise  with 
Tolstoy.  We  seem  to  be  far  too  unlike  each 
other." 

The  summer  of  1861  Turguenief  spent  on  his 
Russian  estate,  where  he  was  finishing  "  Fathers 

259 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

and  Sons,"  and  had  frequent  opportunities  of  see 
ing  Tolstoy.  It  was  then  that  the  great  breach  be 
tween  the  two  friends  took  place.  Different  ver 
sions  became  current.  That  given  by  Pavlofsky 
is  substantially  as  follows: 

He  had  visiting  him  at  one  time,  besides  Tolstoy, 
his  friend  the  poet  Fet;  a  very  good  fellow,  who 
had  a  large  estate  in  the  neighbourhood  to  which 
he  was  just  then  devoting  himself  heart  and  soul, 
letting  his  beard  grow,  and  giving  himself  all  the 
airs  of  a  country  gentleman  of  the  old  Russian 
school.  There  were  also  some  others,  one  of  them 
an  intimate  friend.  An  excursion  had  been  or 
ganised  to  Fet's  estate,  and  the  party  was  taking 
a  hasty  breakfast  while  the  carriages  were  waiting. 
Somebody  thoughtlessly  asked  Turguenief  about 
his  daughter — a  subject  on  which  he  was  very  sen 
sitive.  "  She  is  always  abroad,"  he  replied,  "  and 
as  I  did  not  like  her  education  to  be  entirely  French, 
I  have  got  for  her  now  an  English  governess,  an 
excellent  woman."  Tolstoy  smiled  (little  thinking 
that  he  should  ever  have  an  English  governess  for 
his  children)  and  said,  "  Yes,  she  will  be  taking 
your  daughter  to  visit  the  poor,  and  leaving  money 
and  medicine  on  the  table."  "  Well,"  said  Turgue 
nief,  "  there's  no  harm  in  any  case;  because  the 

poor  will  receive  some  aid,  and  the  child  will  begin 

260 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

to  understand  the  duty  everyone  owes  to  the  suf 
fering." 

"  Yes,  if  it  is  not  one  thing  it  is  the  other.  If 
your  daughter  does  not  get  a  good  education,  at 
least  the  poor  will  receive  something.  She's  your 
natural  daughter,  isn't  she?  " 

"  Yes,  well?  " 

"  Well,  you  seem  to  be  making  an  experiment 
in  anima  vili" 

Turguenief  could  scarcely  contain  himself,  espe 
cially  when  he  thought  he  saw  a  gleam  of  satisfac 
tion  in  Tolstoy's  eyes  that  his  power  of  teasing 
should  have  been  so  successful,  and  burst  out: 
"  Tolstoy,  stop,  or  I'll  throw  my  fork  at  your 
head." 

Both  calmed  down  and  the  affair  seemed  ended. 
It  is  necessary  to  say  that  the  mother  of  this 
daughter  of  Turguenief  was  one  of  his  serfs,  who 
subsequently  married  a  shopkeeper  at  Moscow. 
Such  children  born  of  serfs  were  as  little  regarded 
by  Russians  who  lived  at  home  as  children  born 
of  negro  or  mulatto  slaves  were  regarded  by  the 
Southern  planters  in  the  United  States  at  the  same 
time.  Although  his  daughter,  she  was  his  serf;  and 
therefore,  according  to  the  ways  of  thinking  at  that 
time,  Tolstoy's  remark  was  not  quite  so  brutal  as 
it  might  seem  to  us  now.  It  was  the  peculiar  sen- 

261 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

sitiveness  of  Turguenief  on  this  subject  that  gave 
it  importance. 

Tolstoy  went  to  an  estate  of  his  in  the  neighbour 
hood,  while  Turguenief  and  the  others  went  to  see 
Fet,  where  they  spent  some  days.  On  returning, 
Turguenief  found  two  notes  from  Tolstoy;  one  an 
apology  and  sincere  regret  for  what  he  had  said; 
the  other,  that  the  insult  given  to  him  could  only 
be  wiped  out  in  blood,  and  challenging  him  to 
come  the  next  morning,  between  five  and  six 
o'clock,  to  a  place  mentioned,  and  kill  each  other 
without  witnesses.  Turguenief  thereupon  sent  one 
of  his  friends  to  propose  a  regular  duel  according 
to  the  code.  But  Tolstoy  had  already  gone  back 
to  Yasnaya  Polyana,  and,  when  he  was  found,  re 
peated  his  apologies  and  retracted  his  challenge. 

Of  course  the  matter  got  out,  and  all  sorts  of 
stories  were  circulated  at  Moscow;  before  which, 
however,  Turguenief  wrote  to  his  friend  Annenkof : 
"  I  have  entirely  and  decisively  quarrelled  with  Leo 
Tolstoy.  The  question  of  a  duel  hung  on  a  hair, 
and  at  this  moment  the  hair  is  not  yet  broken.  The 
fault  is  mine:  but  it  was  all  the  result  of  an  old 
hostility — an  antipathy  of  our  two  natures.  I  have 
always  felt  sure  that  he  hated  me,  and  I  can  never 
understand  why,  nevertheless,  he  used  to  come 

back  to  me.     I  have  been  forced  to  keep  my  dis- 

262 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

tance — then  I  have  tried  to  approach  him;  and  we 
were  very  near  approaching  each  other  with  pistols 
in  our  hands.  I  have  never  liked  him." 

Turguenief  went  off  to  Paris;  but  gossip  and 
scandal  were  rife  in  Moscow,  and  somewhat  later 
he  heard  to  his  surprise  that  Tolstoy  had  circulated 
among  his  friends  a  defamatory  letter.  He  wrote 
to  Annenkof :  "  In  all  this  business,  except  at  the 
beginning,  when  I  was  wrong,  I  have  done  every 
thing  to  avoid  this  radical  conclusion;  but  Tolstoy 
has  insisted  on  driving  me  to  the  foot  of  the  wall, 
so  to  speak,  and  consequently  I  can't  do  otherwise 
than  fight.  Next  spring  we  shall  be  face  to  face 
at  Tula."  He  enclosed  a  copy  of  the  letter  or  chal 
lenge  which  he  had  written  to  Tolstoy,  proposing 
to  fight  as  soon  as  he  should  return  to  Russia  in 
the  spring.  Tolstoy  immediately  wrote  to  Turgue 
nief,  denying  categorically  that  he  had  circulated 
any  letter  or  had  given  the  slightest  cause  for  any 
injurious  remarks.  There  was  therefore  no  cause 
for  a  duel,  and  it  did  not  come  off;  and  Turguenief 
wrote  to  his  friend:  "We  are  not  going  to  fight, 
of  which  I  am  very  glad."  But  the  two  writers 
had  not  again  met  when  I  was  at  Yasnaya  Polyana, 
and  did  not  in  fact  see  each  other  until  the  summer 
of  1878. 

With  the  passing  years  the  old  friendly  feeling 
263 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

returned,  fostered  naturally  by  the  respect  each  had 
for  the  other's  talent.  We  have,  unfortunately, 
very  few  letters  of  Turguenief  between  1862  and 
1868;  in  January,  1868,  he  wrote  to  Polonsky: 
"  The  lack  of  talent,  especially  of  poetical  talent, 
is  our  misfortune.  Since  Leo  Tolstoy  nothing  has 
come  up,  and  his  first  work  was  already  printed  in 
1852."  Two  months  later  he  was  reading  "  War 
and  Peace  "  and  wrote :  "  The  novel  of  Tolstoy  is 
a  wonderful  work,  but  its  weakest  side — and  that 
is  what  the  public  especially  enjoy — is  its  history 
and  psychology.  His  history  is  sleight  of  hand, 
dazzling  your  eyes  with  trivial  details;  and  his  psy 
chology  is  a  capriciously  uniform  turmoil  over  one 
of  the  same  set  of  themes;  everything  that  has  a 
relation  to  life,  description,  the  military  part,  and 
so  forth  is  thoroughly  excellent.  A  master  equal 
to  Tolstoy  we  do  not  possess."  In  1875  he  says: 
'  Anna  Karenin '  does  not  please  me,  though 
there  are  truly  splendid  passages  in  it — the  races, 
the  mowing,  the  hunt — but  it  all  tastes  sour,  and 
smells  of  Moscow,  incense,  old  maids,  Slavophilism, 
Junkerthum."  And  about  the  same  time:  "  He  has 
a  very  extraordinary  talent,  but  in  '  Anna  Karenin  ' 
il  a  fait  fausse  route.  One  notices  here  the  influ 
ences  of  Moscow,  of  the  Slavophile  nobility,  of 

orthodox  old  maids,  as  well  as  his  own  retired  life 

264 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

and  the  lack  of  the  necessary  artistic  freedom.  The 
second  part  is  insipid,  tiresome,  and  unmeaning; 
that  is  a  pity !  "  It  is  fair  to  say  that  at  this  time 
the  novel  was  not  yet  finished;  and  the  conclusion 
was  not  published  for  three  years  thereafter.  On 
the  last  day  of  1876,  speaking  of  a  recently  pub 
lished  criticism  on  Tolstoy,  he  wrote:  "  I  think  the 
critic  exaggerates.  But  how  can  one  help  com 
plaining  that  this  man,  who  is  so  unusually  gifted, 
should  do  exactly  that  which  he  ought  not  to  do, 
just  as  if  he  were  trying  to  win  a  bet." 

Finally,  whether  it  was  brought  about  by  the 
intervention  of  friends,  or  whether  caused  by  a  sud 
den  impulse,  Tolstoy,  in  the  spring  of  1878,  wrote 
to  Turguenief.  We  possess  only  the  reply: 

"PARIS,  May  8,  1878. 

"  DEAR  LEO  NIKOLAIEVITCH  :  I  have  just  re 
ceived  your  letter,  which  has  greatly  rejoiced  and 
touched  me.  I  am  very  sincerely  ready  to  renew 
our  early  friendship  and  warmly  grasp  the  hand 
you  have  stretched  out  to  me.  You  are  per 
fectly  right  in  supposing  that  I  have  no  kind  of 
hostile  feelings  towards  you.  Even  if  they  once 
existed  they  have  long  ago  disappeared,  and 
there  remains  only  the  remembrance  of  you  as 
a  man  to  whom  I  was  once  attached,  and  as 
an  author  whose  first  steps  I  was  one  of  the 
earliest  to  appreciate,  and  whose  works  of  imag- 

265 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

ination  have  always  excited  in  me  the  most  lively 
interest.  I  am  heartily  delighted  at  getting  rid  of 
the  misunderstandings  which  had  come  up  be 
tween  us.  I  hope  to  go  to  Orel  this  summer, 
when  we  shall  certainly  see  each  other." 


At  the  beginning  of  August  Turguenief  arrived 
at  Moscow,  and  immediately  wrote  to  Tolstoy,  pro 
posing  either  to  go  to  Yasnaya  Polyana  or  to  have 
a  meeting  at  Tula.  Tolstoy,  who  was  then  medi 
tating  a  long  novel — though  he  had  not  then  be 
gun  it,  and  perhaps  has  not  yet  done  so — went  to 
meet  him  at  Tula,  carried  him  off  home,  and  kept 
him  several  days.  On  reaching  his  own  estate 
Turguenief  wrote  to  him :  "  I  must  repeat  to  you 
again  what  a  good  and  agreeable  impression  my 
visit  to  Yasnaya  Polyana  made  upon  me,  and  how 
glad  I  am  that  our  earlier  misunderstanding  has  so 
disappeared  as  to  leave  no  traces  of  having  ever 
existed.  I  feel  clearly  and  plainly  that  Life,  which 
has  whitened  our  hairs,  has  not  been  useless  to  us, 
and  that  both  you  and  I  are  better  to-day  than  we 
were  sixteen  years  ago.  This  feeling  does  me 
much  good."  And  again,  ten  days  later:  "I  am 
very  glad  to  hear  that  everybody  at  Yasnaya  Pol 
yana  looked  on  me  with  friendly  eyes.  There  is  no 

doubt  but  that  the  bond  you  speak  of  exists  be- 

266 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

tween  us,  and  I  am  very  glad  of  it,  although  I  will 
not  investigate  all  the  threads  of  which  it  is  woven. 
The  main  point  is  that  it  exists." 

The  next  letters  to  Tolstoy  were  taken  up  partly 
with  my  translation  of  "  The  Cossacks,"  which,  I 
regret  to  say,  was  found  "  literal,  but  dry  and  mat 
ter  of  fact,"  with  an  idea  he  had  of  himself  trans 
lating  "  The  Cossacks "  into  French,  and  with 
efforts  to  put  on  the  Paris  market  the  French 
translation  of  "  War  and  Peace."  In  one  of  these 
letters  he  says :  "  I  am  glad  that  you  are  all  physi 
cally  well,  and  hope  also  that  your  intellectual  ill 
ness,  about  which  you  wrote,  has  disappeared.  I 
have  gone  through  the  same  thing.  It  has  often 
appeared  in  the  form  of  an  inner  fermentation  be 
fore  the  beginning  of  a  work.  I  believe  that  you 
have  had  some  such  fermentation.  Although  you 
ask  me  not  to  speak  of  your  writings,  I  cannot 
help  remarking  that  I  have  never  made  fun  of  you 
even  in  the  very  slightest  degree.  Some  of  your 
works  pleased  me  very  much — others  less:  for  ex 
ample,  '  The  Cossacks  '  caused  me  great  pleasure 
and  astonishment.  Why  should  I  have  laughed  at 
you?  I  thought  that  you  had  long  ago  got  rid  of 
those  feelings  of  old  times." 

At  another  time  he  sends  him  a  letter  from  Flau 
bert  about  the  French  translation  of  "  War  and 

267 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

Peace."  "  Thanks  for  having  made  me  read  the 
novel  of  Tolstoy;  it  is  of  the  first  order.  What  a 
painter  and  what  a  psychologist!  The  first  two 
volumes  are  sublime,  but  the  third  falls  off  horri 
bly  (degringole  affreusement).  He  repeats  himself 
when  he  philosophises.  At  the  end  you  see  the 
gentleman,  the  author,  and  the  Russian — while  up 
to  that  time  you  had  seen  only  nature  and  human 
ity.  There  seemed  to  me  sometimes  to  be  things 
like  Shakespeare.  I  kept  uttering  cries  of  admira 
tion  while  reading  it — and  it  is  long:  yes,  it  is 
strong,  very  strong  "  (out,  c'est  fort,  bien  fort). 

Turguenief  talked  much  about  the  necessity  of 
advertisement  and  reclame  to  make  anything  suc 
ceed  in  Paris,  and  said :  "  During  these  last  few 
days  I  have  read  for  the  fifth  or  sixth  time  with 
ever  new  enjoyment  this  truly  great  creation  of 
yours.  Its  whole  putting  together  is  very  differ 
ent  from  what  the  French  like  and  demand  in 
books.  But  its  truth  keeps  the  upper  hand.  I 
hope,  if  not  for  a  famous  victory,  at  least  for  an 
enduring,  though  slow,  conquest.  You  tell  me 
nothing  about  your  new  work,  though  there  are 
rumours  here  that  you  are  working  diligently.  I 
see  you  in  spirit  sitting  before  your  writing-table 
in  that  simple  room  that  you  showed  me."  The 

summer  of    1881    Turguenief  spent   at   Spasskoe, 

268 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

where  his  friend  Polonsky  paid  him  a  long  visit, 
which  he  has  described  very  pleasantly  in  an  arti 
cle  called  "  Turguenief  at  Home."  Among  other 
events  Tolstoy  spent  a  couple  of  days  there  and 
sent  him  a  copy  of  his  collected  works.1 

After  his  departure  Turguenief  read  aloud  por 
tions  of  Tolstoy's  works,  especially  the  forty-third 
chapter  of  the  first  part  of  "  War  and  Peace,"  and 

1  The  following  is  the  account  by  Polonsky  of  Tolstoy's  visit:  "  One 
Wednesday,  July  8th,  Turguenief  received  a  telegram  from  Leo  Niko- 
laievitch  Tolstoy,  informing  him  that  he  would  reach  Mzensk  on 
Thursday  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  evening.  Turguenief  therefore  ordered 
the  horses  to  be  sent  to  meet  him  the  next  day. 

"  That  evening  we  separated  soon  after  taking  tea,  and  went  to  our 
own  rooms.  I  sat  down  to  my  table,  pulled  the  candles  nearer,  and 
wrote  out  my  impressions  of  the  journey  I  had  just  made,  till  one 
o'clock.  Suddenly  I  heard  someone  whistling  in  the  court-yard,  the 
sound  of  steps,  and  the  dogs  all  barking.  I  looked  out  of  the  window, 
but  there  was  no  moonlight  and  I  could  distinguish  nothing. 

"  I  sat  down  again  to  my  writing,  but  heard  someone  pass  through 
the  garden  towards  the  house,  and  then  dimly  heard  a  voice  in  the 
house.  I  thought  that  one  of  my  children  was  talking  in  his  sleep, 
and  went  into  the  children's  room.  I  again  heard  the  voice,  this  time 
quite  plainly,  and  I  recognised  it  as  Turgue"niet's.  '  What  the  devil's 
the  row?  Are  there  thieves  in  the  house?  '  I  went  in  the  dark 
through  the  whole  house,  and  opened  the  door  of  a  room  which  had 
an  exit  to  the  terrace,  and  into  Turguenief's  study.  A  candle  was 
burning  there,  and  a  gray-haired,  bronzed  peasant,  in  a  blouse  girt 
by  a  strap,  was  reckoning  up  with  another  peasant.  I  looked  at  him 
and  did  not  know  him.  The  peasant  raised  his  head,  gave  an  inquiring 
glance  at  me,  and  asked:  '  Polonsky,  is  that  you?  '  Then  for  the  first 
time  I  recognised  Count  Leo  Tolstoy.  We  embraced  and  kissed  each 
other  warmly. 

"  It  turned  out  that  the  Count  had  mistaken  the  day  of  the  week, 
and  had  said  Thursday  when  he  meant  Wednesday.  Not  finding  Tur 
guenief's  carriage  at  the  railway  station  he  had  taken  another;  but  as 
the  night  was  dark  and  the  driver  scarcely  knew  the  way,  he  had 
taken  all  this  time  in  coming.  Turguenief  also  had  not  yet  gone  to 
bed  and  was  writing.  He  was  surprised  and  greatly  delighted  to  find 
the  Count.  The  samovar  and  a  little  supper  soon  made  their  appear 
ance  in  the  dining-room,  and  we  talked  till  three  o'clock. 

"  The  day  after  Tolstoy's  arrival  we  had  a  comical  incident.  An 
hour  before  dinner  Turguenief  was  told  that  the  cook  was  dead  drunk 

269 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

greatly  excited  said,  shaking  his  head :  "  I  know 
nothing  in  European  literature  finer  than  this  de 
scription.  .  .  .  That  is  a  description ! "  And 
he  was  as  delighted  as  if  he  had  discovered  it  for 
the  first  time. 

But  while  Turguenief  thought  Tolstoy  a  great 
writer  and  admired  and  prized  his  talent,  he  from 
time  to  time  considered  him  from  his  own  moral 
and  aesthetic  standpoint.  In  other  words,  he  ap 
plied  to  the  views  of  Tolstoy  the  measure  of  his 
own  views  about  men,  and  was  not  always  satisfied. 
While  he  was  reading  "  Anna  Karenin  "  he  could 
not  understand  why  Tolstoy  was  so  evidently  pre 
possessed  in  favour  of  Levin,  who  was  to  him  an 
unsympathetic  character.  "  Can  you  for  a  moment 
believe,"  said  Turguenief  to  Polonsky,  "  that  Le 
vin  is  in  love  with  Kitty,  or  that  he  could  ever 

and  that  there  was  no  one  to  prepare  the  dinner.  At  first  he  was 
much  perplexed.  The  guests  could  not  be  left  without  dinner,  and 
so  he  resolved  to  cook  it  himself.  Rubbing  his  hands  he  explained 
how  he  would  cut  the  turnips  and  chop  up  the  cutlets.  He  had  already 
started  for  the  kitchen  when  Zakhar,  vigilant  as  Argus  and  mysteri 
ously  silent,  though  not  dumb,  immediately  reined  in  the  passionate 
ardour  of  his  former  master,  and  gave  him  a  hard  scolding.  '  That's 
not  your  business,'  he  said,  '  go  away.  We  can  get  dinner  ready  with 
out  you.'  And  Turguenief  at  once  obediently  returned  to  our  society. 
In  this  way  the  culinary  talents  of  the  honoured  Ivan  Serghe"ievitch  have 
been  hidden  from  posterity.  I  cannot  repeat  all  that  was  said  in  our 
conversation  with  Tolstoy;  but  I  can  asseverate  that  there  was  noth 
ing  which  in  society  is  known  as  '  censurable  talk.'  The  Count  pressed 
his  views  on  no  one,  and  listened  to  Turgueniefs  remarks  and  objec 
tions.  In  short,  he  was  no  longer  that  Count  that  I  had  once  known 
in  his  youth.  He  did  not  stay  more  than  two  days  at  Spasskoe,  and 
then  travelled  to  his  estates  in  the  government  of  Samara,  where  he 
wanted  to  be  for  the  harvest." 

270 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

love  anybody?  No;  love  is  one  of  those  passions 
which  annihilates  our  '  Me '  and  compels  us  in 
some  degree  to  forget  ourselves  and  our  interests. 
But  Levin,  even  after  he  knows  that  he  is  loved 
and  is  happy,  never  ceases  holding  fast  to  his  own 
personality,  and  flattering  himself.  It  seems  to 
him  that  the  very  drozhky-drivers — especially  they 
— offer  him  their  service  with  peculiar  respect  and 
readiness.  He  is  annoyed  that  people  near  Kitty 
greet  him.  He  does  not  for  a  minute  cease  being 
an  egotist,  and  sees  something  quite  extraordinary 
in  himself.  Psychologically  this  is  all  perfectly 
correct  (although  I  do  not  like  psychological  pre 
cision  and  minuteness  in  a  novel),  but  all  these 
details  show  that  Levin  is  thoroughly  selfish,  and 
it  is  easy  to  understand  why  he  sees  in  women 
beings  created  merely  for  house-wifely  and  family 
cares  and  for  empty  prattle.  It  is  said  that  the 
author  is  himself  like  this  Levin,  but  that  is  scarce 
ly  the  case;  at  most  he  may  have  transferred  to 
Levin  one  individual  trait  of  his  own  character  and 
worked  it  up  artistically;  but  even  with  all  that,  I 
cannot  see  what  there  is  to  awaken  our  sympathy." 
"  Not  love  alone,"  continued  Turguenief,  "  but 
every  violent  passion,  religious,  political,  social — 
yes,  even  the  passion  for  study — can  destroy  our 

selfishness.     Fanatics    for    hateful    and    senseless 

271 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

ideas  do  not  spare  their  lives,  so  great  is  their 
love." 

A  year  later,  October  31,  1882,  Turguenief 
wrote :  "  I  have  lately  received  from  a  very  dear 
Moscow  lady  that  '  Confession '  of  Leo  Tolstoy 
that  has  been  forbidden  by  the  censorship.  I  read 
it  with  the  greatest  interest.  A  remarkable  piece 
of  writing  for  its  straightforwardness,  its  sincerity, 
and  its  conviction:  but  it  is  wholly  based  on  false 
propositions,  and  if  carried  out  to  the  end  would 
lead  to  the  saddest  denial  of  energetic  human 
life;  .  .  .  this  is  a  kind  of  Nihilism.  I  wonder 
greatly  why  Tolstoy,  who  among  other  things  also 
renounces  and  denounces  art,  surrounds  himself 
with  artists,  and  what  they  can  learn  from  his  con 
versation.  Nevertheless  Tolstoy  is  perhaps  the 
most  remarkable  man  in  the  Russia  of  to-day." 

When,  a  few  months  later,  Turguenief  lay  on  his 
death-bed,  he  probably  thought  over  the  ideas  in 
Tolstoy's  "  Confession  "  and  the  long  conversation 
—the  last — that  they  had  had  during  the  brief  visit 
at  Spasskoe.  And  taking  up  a  pencil,  he  wrote  to 
Tolstoy  that  touching  appeal  to  be  himself  once 
more;  the  last  words  he  ever  wrote: 

"  DEAR  AND  BELOVED  LEO  NIKOLAIEVITCH  : 

"  I  have  not  written  to  you  for  a  long  time;  for 
I  lay  and  lie,  in  two  words,  on  my  death-bed.  I 

272 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

cannot  get  well,  that  is  not  to  be  thought  of. 
But  I  write  in  order  to  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  to 
have  been  your  contemporary,  and  to  make  my 
last,  earnest  request.  My  friend,  return  to  literary 
work!  This  talent  of  yours  has  come  down  from 
whence  all  else  comes.  O !  how  happy  would  I  be 
if  I  could  believe  that  my  prayer  would  be  an 
swered  !  But  I  am  only  a  man  who  is  near  his  end 
— the  doctors  do  not  even  know  how  to  call 
my  disease — neuralgic  stomachale  goutteuse.  I  can 
neither  stand,  nor  eat,  nor  sleep;  but  what  am  I 
saying!  It  is  wearisome  to  repeat  all  this!  My 
friend,  great  writer  of  the  Russian  land — give  heed 
to  my  prayer!  Let  me  know  if  you  receive  this 
scrap,  and  allow  me  once  more  to  embrace  warmly, 
warmly  yourself,  your  wife,  and  all  yours!  .  .  . 
I  can  write  no  more.  ...  I  am  tired !  " 

Tolstoy  deeply  lamented  Turguenief's  death, 
and,  speaking  of  his  delicate,  loving  nature,  lament 
ed  that  a  writer  so  artistic  in  the  highest  sense,  and 
so  devoted  to  Russia,  should  have  passed  his  best 
and  ripest  years  abroad,  afar  from  his  sincere 
friends  and  away  from  his  own  family. 

"  He  was  till  the  end  of  his  life,"  said  Tolstoy 


1  The  artist  Verestchagin,  who  was  present  at  the  death  of  Tur- 
guenief,  says:  "  Madame  Arnold  told  me  that  Turguenief  was  much 
agitated  by  a  letter  which  he  wrote  from  his  death-bed  to  Tolstoy.  I 
was  sitting  by  the  table  when  he  called  me;  he  gave  me  a  piece  of 
paper  on  which  he  had  written  in  pencil,  and  said,  '  Please  send  this 
off  at  once,  it  is  very  urgent.'  " 

VOL.  I.— 18  273 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

to  Danilefsky,  "  an  independent,  inquiring  spirit; 
and,  notwithstanding  our  temporary  breach,  I  al 
ways  highly  esteemed  him  and  warmly  loved  him. 
He  was  a  genuine  self-reliant  artist,  never  lower 
ing  himself  to  consciously  serving  a  passing  de 
mand  of  the  minute.  He  may  have  gone  astray, 
but  even  in  his  errors  was  sincere." 


VI 


In  helping  Tolstoy  rearrange  his  library  I  re 
member  that  the  collected  works  of  Auerbach  were 
given  the  first  place  on  the  first  shelf,  and,  taking 
out  the  volumes  of  "  Ein  Neues  Leben,"  the  Count 
told  me  to  read  it  after  I  had  got  to  bed,  as  it  was 
a  very  remarkable  book,  and  added :  "  It  was  ow 
ing  to  this  that  I  started  a  school  for  my  peasants 
and  became  interested  in  popular  education.  When 
I  went  back  to  Europe  the  second  time  I  went  to 
see  Auerbach,  without  giving  my  name.  When  he 
came  into  the  room  I  merely  said,  '  I  am  Eugen 
Baumann,'  and,  when  he  hesitated  in  surprise,  I 
hastened  to  add :  '  not  really  in  name,  but  in  char 
acter;  '  and  then  told  him  who  I  was,  how  his  book 
had  set  me  thinking,  and  what  good  it  had  done 

me." 

274 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

It  so  happened  that  in  the  following  winter  I 
spent  a  few  days  in  Berlin,  where,  in  the  hospitable 
house  of  Mr.  Bancroft,  then  the  American  Minis 
ter,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Auerbach,  with 
whom  during  my  stay  I  became  well  acquainted. 
In  talking  about  Russia  we  spoke  of  Tolstoy,  and 
I  recalled  to  him  this  incident.  "  Yes,"  he  said, 
"  I  always  remember  how  frightened  I  was  when 
this  strange-looking  man  said,  '  I  am  Eugen  Bau- 
mann,'  for  I  feared  he  was  going  to  threaten 
me  with  an  action  for  libel  and  defamation  of 
character." 

"  Ein  Neues  Leben "  naturally  brought  us  to 
talk  of  peasant  schools,  and  of  the  general  condi 
tion  of  the  peasantry,  and  of  the  results  of  emanci 
pation,  and  the  Count  took  me  through  the  peasant 
village  of  the  estate,  which  is  close  to  the  ruined 
pillars  of  the  large  gateway  of  the  park. 

"  The  houses  are  low  huts  of  one  story  " — I 
quote  from  a  letter  written  by  me  at  the  time  from 
Yasnaya  Polyana — "  built  generally  of  logs;  brick 
houses  are  not  thought  so  warm.1 

"  The  entrance  takes  you  into  the  court,  on  one 
side  of  which  are  cattle  and  horse-sheds,  made  of 
interlaced  twigs  and  covered  with  straw;  on  the 
other  side  is  the  door  leading  into  the  hut,  which 

1  Printed   in  the   Evening    Post  of  New  York,   November  27,   1868. 
275 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

consists  usually  of  a  single  room  lighted  by  two 
small  windows,  each  with  double  frames  to  keep 
out  the  cold.  There  is  no  ceiling,  but  the  room  is 
open  to  the  roof,  which  is  thatched  with  straw. 
The  floor  is  sometimes  of  earth,  but  more  gener 
ally  of  brick  or  boards.  There  is  a  large  brick 
stove  which  keeps  the  house  perfectly  warm. 
There  is  seldom  more  than  a  single  chair,  but 
rough  benches  are  disposed  about  the  sides  of  the 
room,  and  there  are  one  or  two  tables.  Behind  a 
screen  is  usually  a  sort  of  bed  for  the  master  of  the 
house,  and  a  cradle — a  square  board  suspended 
from  a  beam  by  four  cords  attached  to  the  corners 
and  gathered  into  a  knot,  resembling  the  scale  of 
a  balance.  There  is  a  little  shelf  in  one  corner, 
with  the  usual  holy  picture,  and  perhaps  a  small 
lamp  burning  in  front  of  it.  Except  the  wooden 
dishes  and  utensils  there  is  no  other  furniture. 
The  families  are  always  very  large,  and  people 
sleep  on  the  stove,  on  the  benches,  or  on  the  floor. 
It  is  quite  customary  here  for  the  younger  married 
members  of  a  family  to  sleep  in  the  sheds,  or  in  the 
court.  They  do  this  even  in  winter,  though  some 
times  in  the  morning  they  are  covered  with  snow. 
The  peasants'  houses  in  this  part  of  Russia  are  per 
haps  the  worst  of  all.  In  the  north  of  Russia, 
where  wood  is  abundant,  though  the  peasants  are 
actually  poorer,  they  have  larger  and  better  houses 
and  more  furniture.  All  the  peasant  huts  which  I 
saw  on  the  Volga,  or  even  at  one  hundred  miles 
from  it  in  the  government  of  Samara — where  wood 

276 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

was  so  scarce  that  they  burned  dung  for  fuel — were 
larger,  usually  of  two  or  even  three  rooms,  and  had 
more  furniture,  and  well  carved  cupboards  for  the 
crockery  and  the  holy  pictures. 

"  One  evening  I  paid  a  visit  to  an  old  peasant  in 
one  of  these  huts.  The  room  was  lighted  with  a 
lutchina,  or  piece  of  birchwood,  which  gave  out  a 
bright  blaze.  This  is  a  narrow  strip  of  wood  held 
between  three  nails  on  the  top  of  a  wooden  stand 
ard,  and  as  each  piece  will  burn  not  more  than  two 
minutes,  a  little  girl  has  to  be  constantly  replen 
ishing  the  burner.  The  ashes  are  caught  in  an 
earthen  vessel.  An  old  woman  was  weaving  a 
coarse  linen  cloth  with  a  rude  machine.  A  man 
was  making,  very  neatly  and  deftly,  lapti,  or  the 
shoes  of  linden  bast  which  the  peasants  usually 
wear.  The  most  interesting  sight  was  a  man  beat 
ing  wool.  He  had  fixed  to  the  wall  a  large  strong 
bow,  strung  with  a  heavy  gut  string.  He  kept  the 
string  in  continual  vibration  by  striking  it  with  a 
heavy,  notched  piece  of  wood,  and  at  each  vibra 
tion  the  string  caught  up  and  tore  apart  the  wool, 
and  sent  it  down  to  the  floor  in  white  snowy  flocks 
like  soapsuds.  It  was  as  well  carded  as  if  it  had 
been  done  with  a  machine.1  This  was  the  trade  of 
this  man,  who  goes  from  house  to  house  and  earns 
perhaps  a  ruble  and  a  half  a  day,  if  he  works  stead 
ily.  His  coming  is  rather  a  festival  in  the  house, 
as  he  is  usually  a  merry  fellow,  and  sings  to  the 

1  Exactly  the  same   instrument    is   used  in   Central   Asia  for  carding 
cotton. 

277 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

music  of  his  bow-string.  The  winter  is  the  intel 
lectual  season  for  the  Russian  peasants  as  for  the 
rest  of  the  world.  They  begin  to  use  lights  on  the 
1 5th  (27th)  of  September,  and  from  that  time  on 
they  work  in  the  evening,  while  the  old  women  tell 
stories  and  the  young  people  sing.  Usually  all  the 
young  girls  meet  together  for  singing  and  spin 
ning,  and  go  from  house  to  house  on  successive 
evenings.  In  this  cottage  was  a  very  intelligent 
boy  about  fourteen,  who  knew  something  about 
America,  and  had  a  fair  elementary  education. 

"  There  is  no  church  in  the  village,  but  half-way 
between  this  and  the  village  of  the  next  proprietor 
is  a  neat  old  church,  called  St.  Nicholas  of  the  Ant 
hills,  from  a  miraculous  image  of  St.  Nicholas  said 
to  have  been  found  in  some  ant-hills  in  the  neigh 
bourhood.  I  am  told  that  the  priest  has  absolutely 
no  influence  on  his  flock.  The  peasants  are  relig 
ious,  but  respect  the  proprietors  more  than  the 
priests,  and  are  more  influenced  by  them  both  for 
good  and  evil.  Count  Tolstoy  says  that  the  entire 
abolition  of  the  priesthood  would  probably  have  no 
effect  whatever  on  the  morality  of  the  peasantry. 
The  morals  here,  as  in  all  villages  which  are  near 
a  high  road,  are  not  good.  The  women  are  early 
corrupted  by  the  soldiers  who  pass.  As  to  drunk 
enness,  it  is  neither  worse  nor  better  than  others. 
The  men  are  nearly  all  cartmen  and  drivers,  and 
have  the  faults  of  that  class.  The  land  is  therefore 
cultivated  almost  entirely  by  women. 

"  I  asked  Count  Tolstoy  what  he  thought  had 
278 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

been  the  effect  of  emancipation.  He  told  nle  that 
he  had  been  a  supporter  of  the  measure,  and  one 
of  the  officers  to  carry  it  out — a  mediator  of  the 
peace — but  that  he  now  thought  that  it  had  come 
too  soon:  that  it  had  been  reached  by  reasoning 
only  by  theoretical  men,  and  had  not  come,  as  in 
Western  Europe,  through  the  demand  of  the  peo 
ple,  or  by  the  necessity  of  the  case.  So  far  as  the 
material  condition  of  the  peasants  is  concerned,  he 
thought  that  the  emancipation  was  injurious.  He 
always  judged  the  prosperity  of  a  village  by  the 
amount  of  live  stock,  and  always  counted  that 
whenever  he  passed  a  village,  and  had  noticed  that 
the  amount  was  continually  decreasing.  His  peas 
ants  had  three  dessyatines  (nine  acres)  of  land  per 
head,  held  in  common,  for  which  an  annual  rent  of 
three  rubles  per  dessyatine  is  paid.  They  have  the 
privilege  of  buying  this  land  at  fifty  rubles  per 
dessyatine,  and  can  even  buy  for  thirty;  but  to  his 
knowledge  no  peasant  in  his  district  has  purchased 
land  and  settled  on  it  as  in  other  countries,  though 
many  of  them  do  not  lack  the  means.  The  peas 
ants  are  glad  to  work  as  little  as  possible,  and  like 
to  spend  most  of  their  time  in  a  drinking-house. 
Unfortunately  just  about  the  time  of  the  emanci 
pation  the  taxes  on  spirits  were  very  much  reduced, 
and  this  has  been  productive  of  much  drunkenness. 
It  is  now  proposed  to  raise  them  again,  and  limit 
the  number  of  licenses  to  sell." 


279 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

While  it  may  have  been  Auerbach's  novel  which 
turned  Tolstoy's  mind  particularly  toward  the  sub 
ject  of  peasant  education,  yet  in  starting  a  school 
he  was  only  conforming  to  the  spirit  of  the  time— 
for  philanthropy  was  then  in  the  air — as  well  as  sat 
isfying  his  own  personal  desires  to  do  good,  desires 
common  in  that  emancipation  period  to  all  liberal 
spirits.  In  1862,  in  that  small  district,  containing 
about  ten  thousand  inhabitants,  there  were  four 
teen  good  schools  besides  ten  petty  ones,  taught  by 
church  readers,  or  old  soldiers,  or  simply  for  the 
servants'  children  on  the  various  estates.  The 
school  which  Tolstoy  founded  he  placed  in  a  two- 
storied  brick  house  on  his  estate,  separated  from 
the  village  by  a  little  ravine.  It  was  open  both 
morning  and  evening,  and  had  on  an  average  about 
forty  pupils,  boys  and  girls :  some  coming  long  dis 
tances  and  even  from  other  villages,  attracted  by 
the  fact  that  the  instruction  was  free,  and  the  school 
enjoyed  a  good  reputation.  In  its  last  year  there 
were  four  teachers,  but  Tolstoy  frequently  gave 
personal  instruction — at  one  time  he  passed  all  his 
evenings  there — in  Russian,  and  especially  in  Bible 
History,  in  singing  and  in  drawing,  as  he  was  then 
passionately  fond  of  music  and  art.  This  school 
flourished  for  about  three  years,  when  it  died  a  nat 
ural  death;  not  so  much  from  any  lack  of  interest 

280 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

on  Tolstoy's  part,  as  because  every  child  in  the  vil 
lage,  which  had  only  one  hundred  and  fifty  inhabi 
tants,  had  learned  to  read  and  write,  and  had  ac 
quired  all  the  other  knowledge  he  seemed  capable 
of  mastering,  and  new  pupils  could  not  grow  up 
fast  enough  to  make  it  worth  while  keeping  up  the 
school.  A  sort  of  school  lingered  on,  but  it  was 
subsequently  closed,  apparently  in  consequence  of 
some  mistaken  interpretation  of  a  circular  of  the 
Minister  of  Public  Instruction;  and  new  schools 
were  forbidden  to  be  opened  unless  the  number  of 
the  pupils  seemed  to  satisfy  the  Government.  In 
connection  with  this  school  Tolstoy  published  a  lit 
tle  journal  under  the  name  of  Ydsnaya  Polydna,  in 
which  he  gave  a  description  of  the  school  itself  and 
of  the  method  of  teaching  employed  there;  as  well 
as  long  papers  containing  his  views  on  the  general 
subject  of  education,  and  specimens  of  the  compo 
sitions  and  themes  of  the  pupils.  This  journal,  a 
copy  of  which  he  hunted  up  and  gave  to  me,  has 
now  become  very  rare;  but  many  portions  of  it,  to 
gether  with  some  articles  published  elsewhere,  are 
now  included  in  the  fourth  volume  of  his  Collected 
Works.  The  three  papers  describing  the  school  in 
November  and  December,  1862,  have  been  trans 
lated,  at  least  into  French,  and  are  well  worth  read 
ing  even  by  those  not  at  all  interested  in  education, 

281 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

for  they  contain  passages  descriptive  of  children 
and  life  in  a  Russian  village  which  are  equal  to  parts 
of  his  best  novels.  There  are  also  interesting  pas 
sages  in  the  longer  essays  which  have  not  yet  been 
translated,  but  more  because  they  throw  light  on 
the  development  of  Tolstoy's  character,  than  be 
cause  what  he  says,  or  what  anyone  else  may  say, 
about  the  education  of  Russian  peasants  is  of  any 
importance  to  us  who  live  in  a  very  different  phase 
of  civilisation.1 

1  Toystoy  in  his  Confession  is  not  just  either  to  himself  or  to  his 
schoolwork.  He  says:  "  When  I  came  back  from  my  journey  abroad 
I  settled  in  the  country  and  accidentally  hit  on  occupying  myself 
with  peasant  schools.  This  occupation  was  quite  according  to  my 
liking,  because  there  was  not  apparent  in  it  that  falsity  which  had 
so  impressed  me  in  my  literary  teaching.  Here  I  was  also  acting  in 
the  name  of  Progress,  but  I  had  already  begun  to  be  critically  dis 
posed  towards  Progress  itself.  I  said  to  myself  that  Progress  in  some 
of  its  phases  was  irregular,  and  that  it  was  therefore  necessary  that 
our  relations  towards  unsophisticated  people,  towards  simple  peasant 
children,  should  be  perfectly  free,  and  that  they  should  be  allowed  to 
choose  that  path  of  progress  which  they  preferred.  In  reality  I  was 
always  turning  about  the  same  insoluble  problem,  teaching  without 
knowing  what  I  taught.  In  the  higher  spheres  of  literary  activity  I 
understood  that  it  was  possible  to  teach  without  knowing  what  to 
teach,  because  all  writers  taught  differently,  and  concealed  from  them 
selves  their  own  ignorance  only  by  their  disputes  with  one  another; 
here  with  peasant  children  I  thought  it  possible  to  get  over  this  diffi 
culty  by  allowing  children  to  learn  what  they  wished.  Now  I  laugh 
in  recollecting  how  I  tacked  in  order  to  accomplish  my  desire  of 
teaching,  although  I  knew  very  well  in  the  depth  of  my  soul  that  I 
could  teach  no  one  anything  useful  because  I  myself  did  not  know 
what  was  useful.  After  passing  a  year  over  my  school  I  went  abroad 
a  second  time,  in  order  to  learn  there  how  to  gain  the  art  of  teaching 
others,  when  one  knew  nothing  one's  self. 

"  It  seemed  to  me  that  I  had  learned  that  abroad,  and  armed  with 
all  this  wisdom  and  skill  I  returned  to  Russia  in  the  year  of  the 
Emancipation  of  the  Serfs,  took  the  place  of  mediator,  and  began  to 
teach  the  ignorant  people  in  the  schools  and  the  educated  class  in  a 
journal  that  I  started  publishing.  Everything  seemed  to  go  on  well, 
but  I  used  to  feel  that  I  was  not  quite  right  in  mind,  and  that  it 

282 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

Tolstoy's  school  was  free  in  more  senses  than 
one,  for  generally  no  attempt  was  made  to  keep 
order  or  discipline,  and  only  those  subjects  were 
taught  which  interested  the  pupils,  and  only  so  far 
as  that  interest  continued  to  exist.  The  great 
questions  in  his  mind  were,  What  can  one  teach? 
and  How  can  one  teach? 

"  In  the  decision  of  these  questions  I  was  aided 
by  a  sort  of  pedagogic  tact  which  I  possessed,  es- 

could  not  last  long.  I  might  have  reached  the  same  despair  which 
came  on  me  fifteen  years  later,  if  there  had  not  been  yet  one  side  of 
life  which  I  had  not  yet  experienced,  and  which  promised  me  salva 
tion:  that  was  family  life. 

"  During  a  whole  year  I  continued  to  act  as  mediator,  buried  myself 
in  my  schools  and  my  journal,  and  worked  so  hard  that  I  became  worn 
out.  The  continual  disputes  between  serf  and  master,  that  I  tried  to 
settle  as  mediator,  weighed  on  me;  my  work  in  my  schools  seemed 
to  come  to  nothing;  and  I  began  to  hate  my  tacking  and  veering  in 
my  journal,  all  with  a  desire  of  teaching  everybody,  and  of  concealing 
the  fact  that  I  did  not  know  what  I  taught.  I  grew  ill,  rather  morally 
than  physically;  I  threw  up  everything,  and  went  off  into  the  steppes 
among  the  Bashkirs,  where  I  could  breathe  the  pure  air,  drink  kumyss, 
and  lead  an  animal  life. 

"  When  I  came  back  I  married.  The  new  conditions  of  a  happy  fam 
ily  life  turned  me  completely  away  from  any  search  for  the  general 
meaning  of  life.  My  whole  life  at  this  time  was  concentrated  in  my 
family,  my  wife,  and  my  children;  and  then  in  studying  how  to  in 
crease  our  fortune.  My  aspiration  for  personal  perfection,  which  had 
already  given  place  for  a  desire  for  perfection  in  general,  for  progress, 
now  completely  gave  way  to  a  desire  to  make  myself  and  my  family  as 
comfortable  as  possible. 

"  Thus  fifteen  years  passed.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  during 
all  that  time  I  considered  literature  to  be  nonsense,  I  nevertheless  con 
tinued  to  write.  I  had  already  tasted  the  charm  of  literature,  the  charm 
of  receiving  great  pecuniary  reward  and  much  applause  for  worthless 
work,  and  I  gave  myself  up  to  it  again  as  a  means  of  bettering  my  fort 
une  and  of  suffocating  in  my  soul  all  questions  about  my  life  and 
about  life  in  general.  I  wrote  what  was  for  me  the  only  truth  then, 
that  one  should  live  so  that  one's  self  and  family  should  be  as  com 
fortable  as  possible." 

This  is  the  way  in  which  Tolstoy  now  describes  himself  as  he  was 
at  the  time  that  I  visited  him  at  Yasnaya  Polyana. 

283 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

pecially  by  my  zeal  for  the  work.  Coming  all  at 
once  into  the  closest  personal  relations  with  the 
forty  little  men  who  constituted  my  school  (I  call 
them  little  men  because  I  found  in  them  those  same 
traits,  sagacity,  a  great  knowledge  of  practical  life, 
a  fund  of  humour,  simplicity,  perfect  straightfor 
wardness,  which  characterise  in  general  the  Rus 
sian  peasant);  perceiving  their  impressionableness, 
and  their  readiness  to  obtain  what  knowledge  they 
needed,  I  immediately  felt  that  the  old  clerical  way 
of  teaching  had  outlived  its  time  and  did  not  suit 
them. 

"  After  that  I  tried  modes  proposed  by  peda 
gogic  writers,  especially  Germans,  and  found,  too, 
that  they  did  not  suit;  and  much — especially  where 
there  was  an  effort  to  teach  by  sight  or  by  sound — 
was  distasteful  to  the  pupils  and  often  laughed  at. 
Compulsion  was  contrary  to  all  my  ideas,  and 
therefore  when  I  found  that  one  subject  was  repul 
sive,  I  tried  to  find  something  which  the  pupils 
would  be  glad  to  learn.  I  experimented  at  the 
same  time  on  what  were  the  best  ways  of  teaching 
even  these  subjects.  People,  who  came  to  know 
my  school  personally,  approved  and  applied  some 
of  my  ideas,  which  I  set  forth  sometimes  at  very 
great  length  in  the  journal  which  I  had  started  for 
that  purpose.  But  I  must  admit  that  I  was  an 
noyed — being  younger  then — not  so  much  at  the 
fact  that  my  ideas  wrere  not  accepted,  as  that  those 
who  officially  devoted  themselves  to  educational 
interests  did  not  think  it  worth  while  to  refute 

284 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 
them;   but   treated   them   with   complete   indiffer 


ence." 


In  discussing  methods  of  teaching  Tolstoy  laid 
down  three  principles  as  fundamental :  "  The 
teacher  is  always  involuntarily  led  to  teach  in 
the  manner  of  teaching  most  convenient  to  him 
self.  The  more  convenient  this  method  is  to  the 
teacher,  the  less  convenient  it  is  to  the  pupils. 
The  only  good  method  is  that  which  satisfies  the 
pupils." 

What  had  always  particularly  troubled  him  and 
occupied  his  attention  was  the  best  method  of 
teaching  children  to  read.  He  asked  me  much 
about  new  methods  in  use  in  America,  and  at  his 
request  I  was  able  to  procure  for  him — I  think 
through  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Garrison  of  the  Nation 
— a  good  selection  of  American  Primers  and  Ele 
mentary  Readers.  In  one  of  these  I  remember  the 
pronunciation  of  the  different  sounds  of  the  vowels 
and  of  certain  consonants  was  represented  to  the 
eye  by  a  character  similar  in  general  shape  to  the 
ordinary  letter,  but  with  special  distinctive  changes 
which  at  once  caught  the  eye.  These  books 
proved  of  some  use  to  Tolstoy  in  the  preparation 
of  his  Primer  or  ABC,  on  which  he  spent  much 
time,  but  the  publication  or  use  of  which  in  schools 

285 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

was  forbidden  by  the  Minister  of  Public  Instruc 
tion. 

Tolstoy  did  not  approve  of  examinations,  nor 
even  of  individual  recitations,  at  least  for  Russian 
peasant  children.  He  seemed  to  prefer  something 
akin  to  what  is  the  Arabic,  and  in  general  the 
Eastern  method,  of  all  the  pupils  reciting  together. 
His  efforts  in  instruction  in  history  and  geography 
were  on  the  whole  failures.  What  little  success  he 
had  came  from  using  the  Manuals  of  Peter  Parley, 
translated  into  Russian  fifty  years  ago;  by  telling 
stories,  and  by  appeals  to  the  Russian  patriotic 
feeling,  which  was  quickly  on  the  alert;  "  so  that," 
he  said,  "as  a  general  rule  I  see  no  necessity  of 
teaching  history  or  geography  to  a  boy  before  he 
goes  to  the  University;  and  I  do  see  great  harm  in 
it.  After  that  I  don't  know."  The  one  exception 
that  he  made  was  for  biblical  history  and  the  Bible 
in  general,  especially  the  Old  Testament.  One  of 
the  most  interesting  portions  of  his  report  is  the 
passage  about  the  Bible,  of  which  I  cannot  forbear 
quoting  the  conclusion : 

"  In  order  for  a  pupil  to  give  himself  up  entirely 
to  his  teacher,  it  is  necessary  to  raise  a  corner  of 
that  veil  which  hides  from  him  all  the  enchantment 
of  that  world  of  thought,  knowledge,  and  poetry, 
to  which  his  studies  are  to  introduce  him.  .  . 

286 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

What  means  have  we  for  raising  this  veil?  I 
thought  of  many  things.  But  as  I  was  myself  in 
that  world  to  which  I  wished  to  introduce  my 
pupils,  nothing  seemed  to  be  easier,  and  I  taught 
them  to  read;  I  explained  the  phenomena  of  nature; 
I  used  to  tell  them  what  was  written  in  the  Primers, 
that  '  the  fruits  of  knowledge  are  sweet; '  but  they 
did  not  believe  me,  and  even  drew  off.  I  then  tried 
reading  the  Bible  to  them,  and  took  complete  pos 
session  of  them.  The  edge  of  the  veil  was  lifted, 
and  they  quite  gave  themselves  up  to  me.  They 
grew  to  love  the  book,  love  study,  and  love  me. 
All  that  I  had  to  do  was  to  guide  them  fur 
ther.  .  .  .  Perhaps  this  was  accident;  perhaps 
in  another  school  the  same  results  may  be  reached 
by  beginning  in  a  different  way.  Perhaps.  But 
this  accident  is  repeated  too  invariably  in  all  schools 
and  in  all  families,  and  its  explanation  is  too  clear 
to  me  for  me  to  admit  that  it  is  a  chance.  For  the 
purpose  of  opening  a  new  world  to  a  pupil,  and  of 
making  him  love  knowledge  before  he  has  knowl 
edge,  there  is  no  book  like  the  Bible.  I  speak  even 
for  those  who  do  not  regard  the  Bible  as  Revela 
tion.  No;  at  least,  I  do  not  know  of  a  production 
which  unites  to  the  same  extent  as  the  Bible,  in  so 
condensed  a  poetic  form,  all  the  sides  of  human 
thought.  All  questions  of  natural  phenomena  are 
explained  by  this  book.  All  the  primitive  relations 
of  men  to  each  other — families,  states,  religions,  are 
for  the  first  time  recognised  in  this  book.  Gener 
alisation  of  ideas,  wisdom  in  a  simple  childlike 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

form,  enchants  the  pupil's  mind  for  the  first  time. 
The  lyrical  qualities  of  the  Psalms  of  David  affect 
the  minds  of  children  as  well  as  adults;  and  for  the 
first  time,  in  the  Bible,  everyone  learns  the  charm 
of  the  Epic  in  its  inimitable  simplicity  and  force. 
Who  has  not  wept  over  the  history  of  Joseph  and 
of  his  meeting  with  his  brothers?  Who  has  ever 
told  without  terror  in  his  heart  the  story  of  the 
chained  and  shorn  Samson,  who,  in  order  to  re 
venge  himself  on  his  enemies,  buried  himself  under 
the  ruins  of  the  Palace?  And  still  hundreds  of 
other  impressions  which  have  nourished  us  like  our 
mother's  milk.  Let  those  who  deny  the  educa 
tional  signification  of  the  Bible,  and  who  say  that 
the  Bible  has  outlived  its  time — let  them  compose 
such  a  book,  such  stories  which  explain  the  phe 
nomena  of  nature,  either  drawn  from  general  his 
tory  or  from  their  own  imagination,  which  will  be 
accepted  as  the  Bible  stories  are — and  then  we  will 
admit  that  the  Bible  has  outlived  its  time.  .  .  . 
I  repeat  my  conviction,  which  may  perhaps  be 
drawn  from  an  exceptional  experience,  that  with 
out  this  Bible  in  our  society  the  development  of 
the  child  or  of  the  man  would  be  as  impossible 
as  it  would  have  been  in  Greek  society  without 
Homer.  .  .  .  The  publication  of  a  translation 
of  the  Bible  in  the  simple  language  used  by  the 
peasants  would  form  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the 
Russian  people." 


288 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

In  another  place,  speaking  of  the  way  in  which 
children  love  to  learn,  and  how  their  feelings  grad 
ually  affected  their  families,  he  writes :  "  A  father 
once  told  me  that  he  burned  up  a  whole  candle 
while  holding  it  in  his  fingers  before  his  son's 
book,  and  he  praised  greatly  both  his  son  and  the 
book.  It  was  the  Gospel." 

In  his  educational  writings,  most  of  them  as  old 
as  1862,  there  is  an  occasional  paragraph  that  fore 
shadows  the  later  phase  of  Count  Tolstoy;  and  in 
an  article  written  as  late  as  1885  he  avows  his  ad 
herence  to  all  that  he  had  said  earlier.  Such  are, 
among  others :  "  Perhaps  the  people  do  not  under 
stand,  and  do  not  wish  to  understand,  our  literary 
language,  because  there  is  nothing  in  it  for  them 
to  understand;  and  because  all  our  literature  has  no 
meaning  to  them  and  they  must  create  their  own 
literature."  Again,  in  discussing  the  question 
whether  peasants  should  be  taught  Art,  he  says: 
"  Every  child  of  the  people  has  the  same  rights- 
even  greater  rights — to  the  enjoyments  of  Art  as  we 
who  belong  to  a  privileged  class;  we  who  are  not 
weighed  upon  by  the  necessity  of  constant  hard 
labour;  we  who  are  surrounded  by  all  the  comforts 
of  life.  To  deprive  them  of  the  enjoyment  of  Art, 
to  deprive  me,  the  teacher,  of  the  right  to  introduce 
them  into  the  domain  of  the  highest  pleasures, 
VOL.  I.— 19  289 


\   UN1V£RS4 

V        ™^*V 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

which  they  are  begging  for  with  all  the  powers  of 
their  being,  would  be  an  immense  absurdity."  And 
again :  "  I  have  arrived  at  this  conviction,  that  all 
that  we  have  done  in  poetry  and  music  is  false, 
exclusive,  without  meaning  and  without  future, 
and  insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  needs  and 
even  with  the  productions  of  these  arts  of  which 
we  find  specimens  among  the  people.  I  am  con 
vinced  that  a  lyric  of  Pushkin  or  the  last  Symphony 
of  Beethoven  is  not  as  unconditionally  and  uni 
versally  good  as  the  song  about  '  Vanka  the  Cel 
larer,'  or  the  air,  'Down  along  Mother  Volga;' 
that  Pushkin  and  Beethoven  please  us  not  because 
they  express  absolute  beauty,  but  because  we  are 
as  depraved  as  they,  and  because  they  only  flatter 
our  abnormal  irritability  and  our  weakness." 


VII 

When  I  had  been  just  a  week  at  Yasnaya  Pol- 
yana  I  happened  in  the  course  of  the  evening  to 
speak  of  my  journey  down  the  Volga,  and  told  of 
my  call  at  Kazan  on  General  Yushkof,  Count  Tol 
stoy's  uncle,  to  whom  he  had  kindly  given  me  a 
letter.  The  old  man  had  been  in  the  campaign  of 
1812,  when  he  was  even  already  a  general,  though 

young;   and  the  Count  had  told  me  that  I  might 

290 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

perhaps  get  out  of  him  some  stories  about  the 
battle  of  Borodino,  the  retreat  of  the  French,  and 
how  Moscow  looked  after  the  great  fire.  He  had 
apparently  utilised  some  of  these  for  "  War  and 
Peace."  I  explained,  therefore,  why  I  had  heard 
nothing  of  the  kind.  I  had  been  admitted  at 
Kazan  into  a  very  good  and  comfortable  house, 
and  had  presented  my  card  and  letter  of  introduc 
tion  to  the  servant,  who  came  back  and  begged  me 
to  wait  a  little.  While  waiting  I  noticed  that  the 
letter,  still  sealed,  had  been  placed  on  a  chair.  At 
last  the  General  came  in,  old  but  vigorous,  and 
with  an  expression  of  great  kindliness  and  sym 
pathy.  He  asked  me  to  sit  down,  sat  down  him 
self,  and  after  a  few  words:  "  You  brought  me,  I 
think,  a  letter  from  my  nephew  Leo?  Where  is 
it?" 

"  I  believe  you  are  sitting  upon  it,"  I  replied. 
He  got  up,  found  the  letter,  and  handing  it  to  me 
said :  "  Will  you  kindly  read  it  to  me.  I  am  totally 
blind."  The  situation  was  awkward,  but  there  was 
no  help  for  it;  although  the  letter  was  so  flatter 
ing  and  affectionate  towards  me  that  I  felt  com 
pelled  to  skip  a  whole  paragraph.  I  regret  now 
that,  instead  of  giving  it  back  to  the  old  man,  I 
did  not  put  it  into  my  pocket  and  preserve  it  as  a 
souvenir.  There  were  two  grand  pianos  in  the 

291 


COUNT   LEO   TOLSTOY 

other  room,  and  in  answer  to  some  question  the 
General  said  that  he  had  always  been  passionately 
fond  of  music,  that  he  had  brought  up  all  his  chil 
dren  to  play  and  sing,  but  that  now  that  he  was 
old  and  blind  they  would  go  off  to  St.  Petersburg 
during  the  winter  and  leave  him  all  alone.  Gradu 
ally  I  persuaded  him  to  play  from  memory  some 
thing  from  Beethoven  and  Mozart;  then  we  went 
out  into  the  garden  and  sat  in  the  sun,  and  in  the 
two  hours  that  he  kept  me  he  told  me  much  that 
was  interesting,  but  not  what  I  wanted. 

About  four  o'clock  the  next  morning,  after  tell 
ing  this  adventure,  I  was  awakened  by  hearing 
someone  fumbling  along  the  passage,  when  sud 
denly  my  bedroom  door  opened,  and  thinking  that 
for  some  inexplicable  reason  the  servant  had  come 
to  wake  me,  I  called  out,  "  What's  the  matter?  " 
The  door  closed  and  I  heard  a  voice  say  in  French: 
"  //«,  there's  a  man  in  my  bed;  a  man!  "  The  door 
again  opened  and  a  gentleman  appeared  with  a 
candle,  and  asked  "  Seryozha,  is  that  you?  "  "  No," 
I  replied,  "  I  am  a  guest  of  the  house."  He  laughed, 
begged  pardon,  and  went  away;  and  my  senses 
were  then  sharp  enough  to  hear  the  arrangement 
made  that  she  would  go  up  to  the  drawing-room 
and  sleep  on  the  sofa  till  the  family  were  up;  while 

he  could  lie  down  on  the  divan  in  the  Count's  study. 

292 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

I  immediately  conjectured  what  turned  out  to  be 
the  true  state  of  the  case.  I  was  occupying  the 
room  of  Madame  Yushkof,  the  Count's  aunt,  and 
had  been  invited  to  stay  till  her  arrival,  about  a 
week  hence.  She  had  suddenly  returned  without 
giving  notice,  and  had  brought  a  friend  with  her. 
As  the  doors  of  Russian  country-houses  are  very 
rarely  locked  at  night,  they  had  come  in  without, 
as  it  happened,  awaking  anyone  in  the  house  but 
myself. 

I  ascertained  the  truth  when  Ivan  brought  me 
my  morning  tea,  and  I  immediately  packed  up  so 
as  to  be  in  readiness  to  depart  the  same  day. 
When  I  went  upstairs  for  the  eleven  o'clock  coffee, 
I  chanced  to  find  Madame  Yushkof  alone  in  the 
drawing-room  and  was  obliged  to  introduce  my 
self.  She  had  evidently  been  told — probably  in 
explaining  who  I  was — my  story  of  the  night  be 
fore,  for  she  smiled  and  said:  "  So,  you  were  in 
Kazan  last  spring  and  saw  my  husband,  who  told 
you  that  he  was  stone  blind.  I  assure  you  that 
there  is  not  a  word  of  truth  in  it.  He  sees  as  well 
as  you  or  I  do.  It  is  merely  one  of  his  notions  to 
make  himself  appear  interesting."  I  asseverated 
my  belief  that  he  really  was  blind,  but  could  not 
convince  her.  Count  Tolstoy  afterwards  told  me 
that,  although  they  were  on  perfectly  friendly  terms, 

293 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

she  had  long  been  separated  from  her  husband,  and 
had  not  seen  him  for  years.  I  felt  sure  that  at  least 
he  had  not  seen  her. 

The  morning  was  dark  and  rainy,  but  the  sun 
came  out  afterwards,  and  the  strange  gentleman, 
who  turned  out  to  be  an  old  family  friend  with 
whom  Madame  Yushkof  had  been  staying,  drove 
with  me  to  Tula.  Although  we  exchanged  occa 
sional  letters,  Count  Tolstoy  did  not  come  again  to 
Moscow  during  my  stay  there,  so  that  this  was  the 
last  time  I  saw  him. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

JUDGING  from  the  past  there  has  never  seemed 
to  me  any  reason  to  believe  that  the  present  phase 
of  mystical  religious  enthusiasm,  through  which 
Count  Tolstoy  is  now  passing,  would  last  for  the 
whole  of  his  life;  or  that  he  is  permanently  lost  to 
literature.  Most  of  the  foreign  visitors  to  him, 
who  have  published  their  impressions,  were  more 
interested  in  his  social  and  religious  theories  than 
in  Russian  literature.  It  is  pleasant,  therefore,  to 
find  from  the  account  of  the  novelist,  G.  P.  Dani- 
lefsky,  of  his  visit  to  Yasnaya  Polyana  in  the  au 
tumn  of  1886,  that  Count  Tolstoy  is  not  so  different 

after  all  from  what  he  once  was;  and  that  to  an  old 

294 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

friend  he  is  willing  to  show  the  interest  in  art  and 
literature  which  still  possesses  him. 
Some  passages  may  well  be  quoted: 

"  My  conversation  with  the  Count  about  the 
past  and  present  was  interrupted  by  a  large,  hand 
some  setter,  running  in  and  lying  down  at  his  feet. 
'  Is  that  Laska? '  I  asked,  thinking  of  '  Anna  Ka- 
renin.'  '  No;  she  died  long  ago.  This  is  my  eldest 
son's  sporting  dog.'  '  And  do  you  shoot  now? ' 
1  No;  I  gave  it  up  long  ago;  although  I  walk  about 
the  neighbouring  fields  and  woods  every  day.  .  .  . 
What  a  delight  it  is  to  repose  from  intellectual 
occupations  by  means  of  simple  physical  labour. 
Every  day,  according  to  the  season,  I  either  dig 
the  ground,  or  saw  and  chop  wood,  or  work  with 
scythe,  sickle,  or  some  other  instrument.'  I  could 
not  help  thinking  of  the  box  of  shoemaker's  tools 
in  the  window  of  the  Count's  reception-room. 

'  And  ploughing,'  the  Count  continued,  '  you 
cannot  conceive  what  a  satisfaction  it  is  to  plough. 
It  is  not  very  hard  work,  as  it  seems  to  many;  it 
is  pure  enjoyment.  You  go  along  lifting  up  and 
properly  directing  the  plough,  and  you  don't  notice 
how  one,  two,  and  three  hours  have  gone  by.  The 
blood  runs  merrily  through  your  veins;  your  head 
becomes  clear;  you  don't  feel  the  weight  of  your 
feet.  But  the  appetite  afterwards,  and  the  sleep ! 
If  you  don't  feel  tired  wouldn't  you  like  to  take  a 
walk  before  dinner  and  look  for  mushrooms?  It 

295 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

has  rained  lately,  and  there  must  be  some  good 
white  mushrooms.' ' 

This  little  walk  lasted  for  three  hours  and  a  half, 
and  led  them  a  course  of  five  or  six  miles,  through 
the  orchards  planted  by  the  Count,  over  hill  and 
dale,  through  woods  and  meadows;  and  past  those 
plantations  of  trees  which  I  had  seen  in  their  in 
fancy,  but  which  now  are  thick  woods  and  realise 
the  prophecy  of  the  Count  with  regard  to  their 
value.  All  this  time  the  Count  talked  with  sym 
pathy  and  interest  of  art,  of  Russian  literature,  and 
of  its  best  representatives.  Speaking  of  popular 
literature,  Tolstoy  said: 

"  More  than  thirty  years  ago,  when  some  of 
our  present  writers  —  and  I  among  them  —  had 
just  begun  to  work,  among  the  hundred  millions 
of  the  Russian  Empire,  the  number  of  readers 
could  be  counted  by  tens  of  thousands.  Now, 
since  the  multiplication  of  schools,  they  can  prob 
ably  be  counted  by  millions;  and  these  millions 
of  Russian  readers  stand  before  us  like  hungry 
little  jackdaws  with  wide  open  mouths,  and  say 
to  us :  '  Gentlemen,  writers  of  our  own  land,  throw 
into  our  mouths  some  intellectual  food  which  is 
worthy  of  you  and  of  us.  Write  for  us,  who 
thirst  for  the  living  literature,  save  us  from  those 
chap-books  of  "  Yeruslam-Lazarevitch,"  "  Milord 
George,"  and  the  like  food  to  be  found  at  the 

296 


COUNT  LEO   TOLSTOY 

fairs.'  The  simple  and  honourable  Russian  peo 
ple  is  worthy  of  our  answering  this  call  of  their 
good  and  upright  soul.  I  have  thought  much 
about  it,  and  have  decided  to  make  essay  on  this 
ground  according  to  the  measure  of  my  strength." 

"  .  .  .  '  How  warm  it  is,  and  how  the  air  smells 
of  leaves/  he  said,  approaching  an  old  half-ruined 
bridge  over  a  little  narrow  stream.  '  The  force  of 
immediate  impressions  from  nature  is  wonderful. 
How  I  love  and  prize  artists  who  draw  all  their  in 
spirations  from  that  mighty  and  eternal  source! 
In  it  is  the  only  force  and  truth.' 

"  We  talked  about  various  artistic  methods  in 
literature,  painting,  and  music.  '  Not  long  ago  I 
happened  to  read  a  book/  said  Tolstoy,  stopping 
before  the  planks  thrown  over  the  stream,  '  the 
verses  of  a  dead  young  Spanish  poet.  Besides  the 
remarkable  talent  of  this  writer  the  account  of  his 
life  greatly  interested  me.  His  biographer  quotes 
a  story  told  of  him  by  his  old  nurse.  She  had  no 
ticed,  with  apprehension,  that  he  often  passed  whole 
nights  without  sleep,  would  sigh  and  pronounce 
aloud  some  sort  of  words,  would  go  out  into  the 
fields  and  villages  by  moonlight  and  stay  there 
whole  hours.  One  night  she  even  thought  he  had 
gone  out  of  his  mind;  for  he  got  up,  dressed  in  the 
dark  and  went  out  to  a  neighbouring  well.  The 
nurse,  who  followed  him,  saw  how  he  drew  a  bucket 
of  water  and  began  to  pour  it  slowly  on  the  ground; 
then  drew  another  and  poured  that  out  too.  "  Poor 
fellow,  you've  lost  your  wits,"  she  said.  But  not  at 

297 


COUNT   LEO  TOLSTOY 

all.  The  young  man  was  doing  that  for  the  pur 
pose  of  hearing  and  seeing  the  more  carefully 
how  streamlets  of  water  fall  and  splash  in  the 
moonlight  on  a  quiet  night.  The  experience  was 
necessary  for  his  new  poem.  In  that  case  he  was 
confirming  his  recollections,  and  the  poetic  im 
pressions  which  they  prompted,  by  nature  itself; 
just  as  painters  are  obliged  sometimes  to  have 
recourse  to  mannikins  which  they  place  in  the  re 
quired  positions,  and  cover  with  the  proper  cloth 
ing.  In  reading  our  own  and  foreign  writers  I 
involuntarily  feel  who  is  true  to  nature  and  borrows 
from  her,  and  who  is  false.  There  are  some  books 
whose  falsity  is  at  once  so  evident  that  I  cannot 
get  beyond  the  first  page,  and  not  even  threats  of 
corporal  punishment  would  induce  me  to  read  them. 
.  .  .'  Tolstoy  would  have  been  willing  to  walk 
further,  but  the  Countess  arrived  from  Tula  with 
a  bundle  of  proof-sheets,  and  it  was  dinner-time. 
'  You  are  not  tired?  '  said  Tolstoy,  as  he  gaily  and 
lightly  went  up  the  staircase;  '  for  me  daily  exer 
cise  and  physical  labour  are  as  indispensable  as  the 
air.  In  summer  in  the  country  as  to  this  I  have 
full  choice.  I  can  plough  or  cut  grass.  In  the 
autumn  in  rainy  weather  it  is  wretched.  In  the 
country  there  are  no  sidewalks  or  pavements, 
and  when  it  rains  I  cobble  and  make  shoes.  In 
town,  too,  I  am  bored  by  simple  walking,  and 
one  cannot  plough  or  mow  there;  so  I  saw  and 
split  wood.  Sedentary  intellectual  work,  without 
physical  exercise  and  labour  is  a  real  calamity. 

298 


COUNT  LEO  TOLSTOY 

If  for  even  a  single  day  I  do  not  walk  or  work 
with  my  legs  or  hands,  I  am  good  for  nothing  by 
evening.  I  can't  read  or  write,  or  even  listen  to 
anyone  with  attention;  my  head  turns;  there  seem 
to  be  stars  in  my  eyes  and  I  have  a  sleepless 
night.'  " 

Danilefsky  concludes  as  follows: 

"  Count  Leo  Tolstoy,  after  this  new  meeting  of 
ours,  remains  in  my  thoughts  the  same  great  and 
mighty  artist  that  Russia  knew  and  knows.  He  is 
in  perfect  health,  vigorous,  in  full  possession  of  all 
his  artistic  force;  and,  without  any  doubt,  is  still 
able  to  enrich  his  country  with  more  than  one  pro 
duction  similar  to  '  War  and  Peace '  and  '  Anna 
Karenin.'  I  say  even  more.  Just  as  his  quiet  life 
and  interruption  of  work  after  '  Childhood  and  Boy 
hood  '  and  the  '  Sevastopol  Sketches,'  when  he  was 
busy  with  questions  of  pedagogy,  and  published 
the  Ydsnaya  Poly  ana  school  journal,  was  not  apathy 
nor  weakening  of  his  artistic  strength,  but  only  an 
involuntary  repose  or  breathing  time — during  which 
there  ripened  in  his  mind  the  ideas  of  '  War  and 
Peace  ' — so  now,  when  Count  Tolstoy,  after  study 
ing  in  the  originals  the  '  Old  and  New  Testaments ' 
and  '  Lives  of  Saints,'  consecrates  his  leisure  to 
tales  for  the  people,  he  is  evidently  only  preparing 
himself  for  new  and  great  artistic  productions;  and 
his  present  state  of  mind  is  only  a  new  step,  only 
a  nearer  approach  to  other  still  higher  stages  of  his 
creative  power." 

299 


THE  MINNESOTA  HEIR  OF 
A  SERBIAN  KING 

A    CONSULAR    EXPERIENCE 


THE  MINNESOTA  HEIR  OF 
A  SERBIAN  KING 

A    CONSULAR    EXPERIENCE 

On  one  of  my  visits  to  Belgrade  I  happened  to 
hear  some  vague  rumours  about  an  unfortunate 
American  who  had  been  seeking  for  treasure  in 
several  of  the  ruined  old  castles  of  Serbia.  I  heard 
enough  to  interest  me  deeply,  and  seized  the  first 
occasion  for  obtaining  accurate  information.  What 
I  am  now  about  to  tell  was  chiefly  derived  from 
Mr.  Miyatovitch,  afterwards  Minister  of  Foreign 
Affairs,  but  at  that  time  Minister  of  Finance.  He 
was  kind  enough  to  give  me  not  only  all  the  details 
he  knew,  but  copies  of  certain  papers  in  his  pos 
session,  and  to  note  down  for  me  the  most  impor 
tant  points.  It  is  more  convenient,  however,  to  ex 
press  myself  in  my  own  words  and  in  my  own  way, 
though  many  of  the  expressions  which  I  heard  still 
cling  to  me. 

In  July,  1875,  a  man,  evidently  a  foreigner,  came 
303 


THE  MINNESOTA  HEIR 

to  the  Ministry  of  Finance  at  Belgrade.  When  he 
obtained  an  interview  with  the  Minister,  and  was 
asked  why  he  came  to  Serbia,  and  why  especially 
he  wished  to  see  the  Minister  of  Finance,  he  said — 
in  a  strange  German-English  dialect — that  he  was 
a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  and  owned  a  farm  in 
Minnesota  which  he  worked  with  his  children;  but 
that  he  was  unfit  for  hard  work,  as  he  had  served 
in  the  war  as  a  private,  had  been  wounded,  and  was 
then  receiving  a  pension  of  six  dollars  a  month. 
The  first  impression  which  he  produced  on  the 
Minister — and  the  Minister  had  the  pardonable 
weakness  of  trusting  to  first  impressions — was  a 
favourable  one.  He  was  a  man  apparently  of  be 
tween  fifty-five  and  sixty  years  old,  of  middle  size 
and  well  built,  with  a  fine  head  and  face.  His 
forehead  was  high;  his  bluish-grey  eyes  expressed 
goodness  and  gentleness  as  well  as  a  strong  will; 
his  nose  was  well  proportioned  and  well  formed;  his 
thick  brown  beard  was  slightly  sprinkled  with  grey. 
He  was  poorly  but  neatly  dressed,  and  had  all  the 
air  of  an  earnest,  sober  man,  accustomed  to  earn 
his  own  living.  On  being  asked  again  what  had 
brought  him  to  Serbia  and  what  he  wanted,  he  pre 
sented  his  American  papers,  began  to  smile,  and 
said :  "  You  will  laugh  at  me,  and  perhaps  pity  me, 
and  think  me  an  old  fool;  but  the  reason  that  I 

304 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

have  come  out  here  all  the  way  from  Minnesota  is 
to  search  quite  alone  for  what  was  left  to  me  by 
my  ancestors."  There  was  nothing  extraordinary 
in  the  request  for  permission  to  seek  for  hidden 
treasure.  Such  permissions  are  often  asked  for; 
sometimes  as  many  as  twenty  or  thirty  in  a  year: 
and  once  in  a  while  there  seems  to  be  an  epidemic 
of  the  sort  in  different  districts.  But  the  Minister 
was  surprised  that  so  old  a  man,  who  seemed  so 
sensible  and  modest,  should  abandon  his  family  and 
his  country  and  come  as  far  as  Serbia  with  the  sole 
object  of  hunting  for  a  treasure.  Then,  as  on  many 
subsequent  occasions,  the  Minister  tried  to  dis 
suade  him,  and  to  prove  the  uselessness  of  his  work. 
But  all  was  in  vain.  "  No,  no,  dear  sir,"  he  said, 
"  the  treasure  is  still  buried  in  the  ground,  or  there 
would  be  something  of  it  in  the  European  muse 
ums:  I  have  been  in  many  places  in  Europe  and 
have  never  seen  anything  like  it,  and  therefore  I 
am  sure  of  my  enterprise,  as  I  am  searching  ac 
cording  to  my  documents."  He  then  said  that  he 
was  of  Serbian  origin;  that  his  name  was  August 
Boyne  de  Lazar;  that  he  was  born  in  Chemnitz  in 
Saxony  in  1818;  and  that  after  the  Revolution  in 
1848,  in  which  he  was  implicated,  he  had  emi 
grated  to  the  United  States.  He  claimed  to  be 
descended  from  a  family  closely  related  to  that  of 
VOL.  I.-20  305 


THE   MINNESOTA   HEIR 

Prince  Lazar;  which  was  once  so  rich  and  powerful 
that  it  owned  Sokol,  Shabatz,  and  other  towns  in 
the  Shumadia — that  w'onderful  forest-country,  even 
the  name  of  which  is  derived  from  a  word  express 
ing  the  rustling  of  the  leaves.  When  he  said  this, 
the  Minister,  who  is  well  versed  in  history,  remem 
bered  an  old  tradition  that  the  Obilitch  family  had 
owned  property  in  this  region;  and  he  advised  the 
American,  if  he  searched  at  all,  to  confine  himself 
to  the  delta  between  the  Sava  and  the  Drina,  where 
these  towns  are  situated.  Boyne  knew  the  name 
of  Obilitch,  but  nothing  of  the  connection  of  that 
family  with  King  Lazar,  and  had  never  heard  of 
the  hero  Milosh. 

In  order  thoroughly  to  understand  the  circum 
stances,  it  is  necessary  to  make  here  a  slight  his 
torical  digression.  The  literature  of  Serbia  is  rich 
in  ballads  of  an  epic  character.  These  were  among 
the  earliest  Slavonic  ballads  collected,  and  were  of 
great  interest,  especially  to  German  scholars,  as 
throwing  light  on  the  possible  composition  of  the 
Homeric  poems.  One  great  cycle  of  these  ballads 
is  concerned  with  the  battle  of  Kossovo,  where  on 
Vidovdan  (St.  Vitus's  Day),  June  15,  1389,  the 
Serbian  King  Lazar  was  defeated  by  the  Turks, 
and  Serbian  independence  was  lost  for  nearly  five 

centuries.     This   defeat  was  rendered   decisive  by 

306 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

the  defection  of  Vuk  Brankovitch,  one  of  the  sons- 
in-law  of  Lazar,  who,  believing  the  day  lost,  went 
over  to  the  Turks.  Vuk  had  had  a  personal  quar 
rel  with  another  son-in-law  of  Lazar,  Milosh  Obi- 
litch.  At  a  banquet  which  Lazar  gave  the  night 
before  the  grand  battle  he  brought  out  a  great  gold 
goblet  and  drank  to  the  health  of  Milosh,  taunting 
him  with  his  disloyalty.  The  latter  accepted  the 
toast,  finished  the  cup,  and  strode  out  of  the  tent 
in  a  fury;  swearing  that  he  would  show  if  it  were 
he  who  could  be  disloyal.  With  one  of  his  friends 
he  rode  into  the  Turkish  camp  straight  to  the  tent 
of  the  Sultan  Murad  I.  (Amurath)  and  demanded 
an  audience.  On  the  advice  of  the  Vizier,  Murad, 
instead  of  giving  his  hand  to  be  kissed,  offered  his 
foot,  which  Milosh  seized,  pulled  him  to  the 
ground,  and  stabbed  him  in  the  belly.  After  kill 
ing  the  two  Viziers  he  mounted  his  horse  and  rode 
away  with  his  companions,  pursued  by  the  Turks, 
but  leaving  a  broad  swath  of  death  as  they  gal 
loped  through  the  camp.  The  other  two  were 
killed  and  Milosh  was  captured.  The  Sultan  did 
not  die  on  the  spot,  but  was  so  grievously  wounded 
that  his  son  Bayazed  (Bajazet),  the  same  who  was 
afterward  captured  by  Tamerlane  and  kept  in  a 
cage,  fought  the  battle  in  his  stead.  King  Lazar 
was  taken  prisoner,  and  both  he  and  Milosh  Obi- 

307 


THE  MINNESOTA   HEIR 

litch  were  brought  to  the  dying  Murad  for  his 
orders.  The  Sultan  ordered  them  to  be  executed, 
and  commanded  that  Milosh  Obilitch  should  be 
buried  by  his  side  and  King  Lazar  at  his  feet;  to 
show  that  all  Christians  were  r ayahs  or  subjects. 
Milosh  spoke  up  and  said: 

' '  Thou  art  dying  !    I  also  am  death-doomed. 
I  beseech  thee,  O  Murad,  great  Sultan ! 
Let  not  thus  our  dead  bodies  be  buried, 
Let  the  two  Tsars  lie  in  death  side  by  side  ! 
Let  me  lie  at  the  feet  of  Tsar  Lazar ! 
His  true  knight  was  I  ever  in  this  world  ; 
His  true  vassal  I  would  be  in  that  one!" 

It  is  said  that  Murad,  struck  with  the  bravery  and 
fidelity  of  Milosh,  granted  his  petition. 

Milosh  is  the  hero  from  whom  the  treasure- 
seeker  was  apparently  descended.  The  proofs  of 
this  descent  are  very  curious. 

When  August  Boyne  left  Saxony  to  go  to  Amer 
ica  his  father  gave  him  some  papers  and  docu 
ments,  a  small  Bible  containing  notes,  and  told  him 
all  that  he  had  heard  from  his  own  father  and  could 
remember  about  the  family  history.  Long  after 
wards,  when  Boyne  was  ill  in  a  hospital  at  Chicago, 
this  Bible  was  stolen  from  him;  it  was  recovered, 
but — portions  of  the  notes  having  been  apparently 
purposely  cut  out — in  a  mutilated  condition.  In 

308 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

order  to  guard  against  further  loss,  copies  were 
made  of  all  that  remained,  which  were  duly  certi 
fied  and  attested  by  the  proper  judicial  and  notarial 
authorities.  Among  the  papers  shown  to  the  Ser 
bian  Minister  was  one  "  the  validity  of  which 
was  proved  by  many  signatures  and  legalised  by 
American  authorities.  [I  give  here  the  Minister's 
exact  words.]  It  was  said  therein  that  the  docu 
ment  consisted  of  four  leaves;  but  only  two  came 
into  my  hands.  The  other  two  had  either  been  lost 
by  Boyne,  or  had  been  stolen  from  him."  This 
professed  to  be  written  by  Andria  Obilitch,  the 
great-grandfather  of  August  Boyne.  It  was  in 
German  and  ran  as  follows: 

"BRANDENBURG,   May    I,    1759. 

"  MY  DEAR  SON  FREDERIC  DE  LAZAR  :  I  hand 
over  to  thee  my  last  Will  and  Testament  relating 
to  our  family  matters,  which  I  know  from  my  par 
ents  in  Serbia.  I  could  never  go  there  myself,  for  I 
was  so  long  in  the  military  service;  and  afterwards 
was  too  ill  and  old.  Other  secret  things  and  mat 
ters  I  will  tell  thee  orally.  But  here  it  seems  nec 
essary  and  important  to  describe  the  days  of  my 
youth  and  my  experience.  My  father  was  a  Prince 
of  Serbia.  I  was  born  in  the  year  1697  in  a  castle 
in  the  Shumadia;  and  was  brought  up  in  the  castle 
of  Shabatz  on  the  River  Sava.  In  the  year  1704 
there  was  great  excitement  and  commotion  in  con- 

309 


THE  MINNESOTA   HEIR 

sequence  of  the  Turkish  tyranny;  and  there  were 
disasters  without  precedent. 

"  One  night,  when  the  reflection  of  burning 
houses  reddened  all  our  windows,  I  woke  up  daz 
zled  by  the  bright  light  of  the  conflagration;  and 
was  seized  by  the  hand  of  a  faithful  servant.  '  Get 
up,  Andria,'  he  cried  to  me,  *  we  have  no  time  to 
lose;  the  long-beards  are  near/  The  long-beards 
were  the  Turks — so  we  called  them.  I  was  always 
afraid  of  them — they  were  terrible,  and  came  often 
to  our  town  to  kill  and  plunder,  and  I  rose  instantly. 
The  servant  took  me  in  his  arms.  I  heard  fearful 
noises  everywhere  about  me.  My  mother  came 
into  the  room  very  much  agitated  and  excited,  and 
wished  to  see  me.  At  the  same  moment  we  heard 
the  firing  of  muskets  quite  close  to  us.  One  of  the 
doors  was  burst  open;  smoke  and  sparks  flew  all 
about  us,  and  a  gang  of  fierce-looking  Turks 
rushed  into  the  room.  They  swung  around  their 
heads  their  swords,  which  glittered  like  reddish 
flame,  and,  shouting  terribly,  threatened  to  kill  and 
massacre  all  of  us.  The  servant,  in  his  fright,  let 
me  fall  to  the  ground;  and  I  rolled  under  some  fur 
niture  and  crept  off  as  far  as  I  could  get.  But  I 
could  see  how  he  fell  a  victim  to  his  fidelity,  in  the 
attempt  to  save  me,  by  the  cruel  hands  of  the 
Turks.  I  could  also  see — oh,  horror — how  they 
caught  my  mother,  how  they  took  her  by  the  hair 
and  cut  her  to  pieces.  When  this  was  done  they 
left  the  place.  This  bloody  scene  remained  deeply 
engraved  on  my  mind;  so  that  even  now,  after 

310 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

many  years,  I  see  these  horrible  details  again  en 
acted.  I  remained  alive  among  the  dead;  but  felt, 
after  a  while,  that  I  was  taken  up  and  carried  into 
the  street.  They  washed  my  face,  which  was 
covered  with  blood,  put  me  on  a  cart,  and  off  we 
went  in  great  haste,  as  fast  as  the  horses  could  run. 
We  saw  all  round  us  villages  in  a  blaze,  and  peo 
ple  and  cattle  running  in  all  directions.  From 
time  to  time  we  met  many  carts,  and  people  laden 
with  their  property,  going  along  our  road  to  the 
Shumadia  forest.  When  we  reached  the  forest  we 
were  warmly  received,  with  joyful  acclamations. 
They  took  me  down  from  the  cart,  and  passed  me 
about  from  one  to  another.  All  were  surprised 
that  I  had  survived,  and  covered  me  with  kisses. 
My  man — the  same  who  brought  me  here — took 
me  into  his  arms,  carried  me  into  a  tent,  and  told 
me  to  lie  down  and  rest.  He  told  me  that  his 
name  was  Yefrem  Nadustratz  (one  who  has  lost  all 
hope),  that  he  was  a  servant  of  our  family,  and  that 
he  had  saved  me  out  of  gratitude  to  my  father,  his 
master.  The  people  called  me  Andria  Obilitch. 
They  afterwards  built  houses  and  shelters,  and  my 
servant  and  preserver  also  built  a  house.  He  was 
clever  in  healing  horses,  and  lived  well,  and  I  often 
travelled  about  with  him.  When  I  was  about 
twelve  years  old,  I  went  with  him  to  Sokol;  and  as 
wre  came  back,  he  said :  '  We  will  pass  now  on  the 
Belgrade  road,  so  that  you  may  see  where  your 
father  lived.  Do  you  see  yonder  that  half-ruined 
tower,  and  the  ruins  of  buildings?  '  '  Yes,  I  see.' 


THE   MINNESOTA   HEIR 

'  That  was  where  your  father  Lazar  lived.  He  was 
a  prince  of  the  Serbian  land,  and  a  famous  and 
highly  esteemed  lord.  All  of  your  family  were 
greatly  respected.  But  they  were  all  killed  by  the 
Turks,  who  carried  off  great  treasures.  You  are 
now  the  only  surviving  member  of  your  famous 
race.  I  saved  you  when  Shabatz  was  burned. 
The  Shumadia  Castle  alone  remains  in  the  posses 
sion  of  your  family;  but,  you  see,  it  is  worth  noth 
ing  now.  The  Turks  killed  every  living  soul,  and 
burned  down  all  the  villages,  and  it  will  be  worth 
nothing  during  your  lifetime.' ' 

The  castle  of  Sokol  is  now  a  picturesque  ruin- 
like  so  many  others  in  Serbia — which  gives  a  great 
idea  of  the  power  and  wealth  of  its  former  owners. 
The  general  effect  of  all  of  them  is  occidental 
rather  than  oriental.  The  old  nobility  of  Serbia, 
as  well  as  of  Bulgaria  and  Greece,  were  either  ex 
terminated  by  the  Turks,  or  reduced  to  peasantry 
by  being  stripped  of  their  lands.  In  Bosnia,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  nobles  saved  their  estates  by  turn 
ing  Mohammedan.  They  are  still  fanatical  Mus 
sulmans;  but  they  speak  Serbian  and  rarely  Turk 
ish,  retain  their  family  names,  and  use  coats  of 
arms. 

The  remaining  part  of  the  story  was  on  the  miss 
ing  sheets,  and  has  to  be  filled  in  from  the  family 

traditions  told  by  August  Boyne  to  the  Minister. 

312 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

There  was,  however,  a  copy  of  the  notes  from  the 
old  Bible,  about  the  descendants  of  Andria  Obi- 
litch;  by  which  it  may  be  seen  that  one  of  his  sons, 
Frederic,  was  born  in  Brandenburg  on  May  7, 
1744;  that  Frederic's  son,  John,  was  born  on  June 
12,  1784;  and  that  John's  son  August — the  man  in 
question — was  born  in  Chemnitz  on  August  5, 
1818. 

The  accuracy  of  names  in  this  document  and  its 
general  air  of  historic  truth  make  it  curious  and  in 
teresting.  Mr.  Miyatovitch  believes  it  genuine, 
and  has  published  it  as  throwing  light  on  the  popu 
lar  rising  against  the  Turks  in  1704.  One  might, 
perhaps,  account  for  the  character  of  the  story  by 
supposing  it  to  be  a  romance  invented  by  some 
soldier  who  had  served  in  the  army  of  Prince 
Eugene,  when  he  besieged  and  took  Belgrade,  in 
1717.  This,  however,  could  not  be  the  case  if  we 
are  to  accept  the  family  history  as  handed  down 
and  related  by  Boyne. 

According  to  the  oral  account  Andria  lived  in 
this  way  for  some  time  longer;  until  Yefrem,  feel 
ing  himself  infirm,  said  to  the  boy :  "  I  shall  die 
soon,  and  you  will  be  left  alone  to  live  as  you  can. 
If  it  is  possible,  escape  across  the  river  away  from 
the  Turks,  so  that  your  life  may  be  preserved;  and 
perhaps  your  descendants  may  some  time  come 

313 


THE  MINNESOTA   HEIR 

back,  and  get  again  the  lands  and  property  of  your 
family."  Later  on  Yefrem,  after  swearing  the  boy 
solemnly  to  secrecy,  took  him  to  the  ruined  castle; 
made  him  observe  carefully,  and  try  to  remember 
certain  signs  and  landmarks;  and  finally  led  him 
through  subterranean  passages  of  great  length  into 
a  vaulted  room,  where  the  goods  and  treasures  of 
Andria's  father  were  heaped  up.  There  were,  he 
said,  many  splendidly  ornamented  oriental  arms, 
and  weapons  of  excellent  workmanship,  books  and 
documents,  deeds  and  diplomas,  rich  drinking- 
cups,  and  many  utensils  of  gold  and  silver,  mosaics 
and  enamelled  trinkets,  medals  and  money,  and 
strong  chests  full  of  valuables.  It  was  impossible 
to  take  anything  away,  from  fear  of  the  Turks. 
Besides  this,  Yefrem  felt  that  it  was  a  solemn  trust 
which  he  had  no  right  to  deliver  up  to  the  boy. 
He  allowed  him,  however,  to  take  one  ancient  coin 
in  order  to  impress  the  secret  on  his  mind. 

Soon  after  this — it  must  have  been  about  the 
time  that  the  Austrians  were  besieging  Belgrade — 
Yefrem  found  a  means  of  escaping  from  the  coun 
try  with  Andria;  and  in  search  of  some  honest 
and  honourable  employment  they  made  their  way 
through  the  Slavonic-speaking  countries  to  Silesia. 
Yefrem  died,  and  Andria  took  service  with  a  great 
landed  proprietor.  Here  he  fell  in  love  with  a 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

pretty  peasant-girl,  who  was  born  on  the  estate, 
and  was  consequently  the  serf  of  the  lord  of  the 
manor.  For  that,  or  for  some  other  reason,  he 
was  not  allowed  to  marry  her;  but  he  gave  her  the 
old  coin  which  he  had  brought  from  the  vault  and 
had  carefully  kept.  One  day  the  lord,  his  master, 
played  cards  with  a  German  baron,  and,  among 
other  stakes,  lost  the  girl  who  was  Andria's  sweet 
heart.  Andria,  in  a  frenzy  of  anger  and  despair, 
tried  to  kill  the  baron;  but,  mistaking  the  man, 
killed  one  of  his  attendants.  For  this  he  was 
obliged  to  run  away  and  hide  himself;  and,  meet 
ing  some  recruiting  sergeant,  he  was  enlisted  in  the 
body-guard  of  the  King  of  Prussia.  He  was  then 
about  twenty-two  years  old.  One  day,  many  years 
after,  when  there  was  a  festivity  at  court,  and 
Andria  was  on  guard  at  the  door  of  the  ball-room, 
a  fine  lady  passed  on  the  arm  of  a  gentleman;  and 
by  some  accident  dropped  her  bracelet.  Andria 
picked  it  up,  and  even  in  its  setting  of  jewels  recog 
nized  the  coin;  then,  raising  his  eyes  as  much  as  he 
dared,  he  recognized  the  girl  he  had  once  loved. 
She  had  married,  it  seems,  an  officer  who  had  be 
come  a  great  general,  and  she  was  then  a  fine  lady. 
The  gentleman  who  was  with  her  admired  the  coin, 
which  seemed  curious  and  rare,  and  had  an  inscrip 
tion  in  an  unknown  language;  and  the  King,  send- 


THE  MINNESOTA   HEIR 

ing  for  the  director  of  his  numismatic  collection, 
asked  him  if  such  a  piece  existed  in  his  cabinet. 
The  director  replied  that  he  had  recently  bought 
a  similar  one  at  Venice. 

It  must  be  remarked  here  that  Venice  had  in 
the  Middle  Ages  an  active  commerce  with  the 
whole  Balkan  Peninsula,  and  that  the  Venetian 
coins  served  as  models  for  the  old  Serbian  money. 
About  all  this  August  Boyne  knew  nothing,  and 
when  he  first  told  the  story  to  the  Minister  had 
never  seen  any  old  Serbian  gold  coins,  which  are 
extremely  rare. 

As  time  went  on  Andria  prospered;  the  King, 
who  had  taken  a  fancy  to  him,  helped  him;  and  he 
was  able  to  build  a  house  with  the  right  to  convert 
it  into  an  inn.  This  he  did  when  he  had  grown 
too  old  to  be  of  use  in  active  service;  and,  as 
he  often  told  his  guests  stories  about  fights  in  Ser 
bia,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  boyne  or  voyne 
(in  Serbian  boy  or  voy  means  a  fight,  and  voyna 
war),  they  came  to  call  the  house  the  Boyne  Inn — 
Gasthans  zum  Boyne — and  he  and  his  descendants 
adopted  it  as  a  surname.  The  de  Lazar  was  evi 
dently  an  attempt  at  translating  Lazarevitch,  the 
son  of  Lazar,  the  patronymic  which  Andria  had 
from  his  father — Andria  Lazarevitch  Obilitch — 
and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  old  King  Lazar. 

316 


OF  A  SERBIAN   KING 

About  the  life  of  Andria's  son  and  grandson  I 
know  nothing,  nor  why  one  of  them  went  to  Sax 
ony;  nor  did  the  Minister  remember  that  August 
Boyne  had  told  him  anything  in  particular  about 
his  life  up  to  the  age  of  thirty,  when  he  emigrated 
to  America.  I  must  return  to  his  appearance  in 
Belgrade. 

As  I  have  said,  the  Minister  at  first  tried  to  dis 
suade  Boyne  from  what  he  considered  a  useless  and 
absurd  undertaking;  and,  when  he  found  this  of  no 
avail,  advised  him  to  search  especially  near  Shabatz 
and  in  that  region;  where  he  knew,  as  a  historian, 
that  the  Obilitch  family  had  possessed  lands. 
Boyne  spent  a  whole  year  in  that  part  of  the  coun 
try,  and  then  began  to  explore  the  districts  of 
Morava  and  Kraguyevatz.  He  occasionally  re 
turned  to  Belgrade;  and  the  Minister,  who  had  be 
come  more  and  more  interested  in  him  and  had 
been  greatly  impressed  by  his  straightforwardness, 
his  earnestness,  and  his  simple  piety,  assisted  him 
from  time  to  time  with  food,  linen,  clothes,  and 
even  money.  Boyne  had  gradually  learned  a  little 
Serbian,  and  wherever  he  went  tried  to  do  good  to 
the  people  about  him;  leaving  a  most  favourable 
opinion  of  him  on  all  with  whom  he  had  to  do. 
What  particularly  struck  my  friend  the  Minister 
was  that  he  generally  prayed  aloud,  and  that  his 

317 


THE  MINNESOTA  HEIR 

prayers  were  extemporised,  and  suited  to  particular 
circumstances.  "  I  was  deeply  touched,"  the  Min 
ister  said,  "  when  he  prayed  for  Serbia,  the  Prince, 
the  whole  Serbian  nation;  and  specially  for  the 
children  of  this  nation  who  frequent  the  schools, 
upon  whom  he  implored  the  Almighty's  blessing. 
At  the  time  when  he  asked  for  the  concession,  and 
permission  to  search  for  the  treasure,  he  said  that 
he  would  spend  it  entirely  on  the  construction  of  a 
Serbian  railway,  and  that  he  would  not  carry  out 
of  the  country  a  single  farthing.  But  later  he 
changed  his  mind  and  said :  '  It  is  nearly  two  years 
that  I  live  in  this  country  among  the  Serbians;  and 
I  see  that  the  nation  is  not  pious  and  has  forgotten 
God  and  His  goodness  to  men :  and  so,  if  I  find  my 
treasure,  I  wish  with  the  money  to  build  many  good 
schools  to  teach  children  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  and 
to  educate  them  in  the  love  of  their  neighbours.' ' 

In  May,  1876,  Boyne  was  full  of  hope,  and  said 
that  he  had  found  certain  signs  on  an  old  ruined 
castle  not  far  from  Kraguyevatz.  He  came  again 
to  Belgrade  in  June  during  a  period  of  great  heat, 
on  foot  and  utterly  destitute;  and  was  almost  im 
mediately  taken  ill.  The  Minister  was  absent  at 
the  time;  but  a  lady  went  to  see  him  in  the  wretched 
cottage  where  he  had  found  a  lodging,  and  provid 
ed  him  with  linen  and  other  necessaries.  This 

318 


OF  A   SERBIAN   KING 

friend  on  a  later  visit  found  that  everything  had 
been  stolen  from  him  in  the  weak  state  in  which  he 
was;  and  therefore  had  him  transferred  to  the  hos 
pital.  He  was  accompanied  at  this  time  by  an  ill- 
looking  man,  whose  acquaintance  he  had  some 
where  made,  and  whom  he  had  engaged  to  help 
him  in  his  work.  When  the  Minister  returned  to 
Belgrade  he  went  to  see  poor  Boyne,  and  found 
him  dying.  He  expired  on  the  morning  of  August 
3,  1876,  and  was  buried  among  the  poor  in  the 
highest  spot  of  the  cemetery  of  Belgrade,  whence 
there  is  a  lovely  view  over  the  Danube.  The  body 
of  this  unknown  and  friendless  American,  the  pos 
sible  descendant — and  the  last — of  the  hero  King 
Lazar,  was  followed  to  the  grave  by  one  mourner 
only — the  Serbian  Prime  Minister.  The  face  of 
the  poor  man  after  death  took  on  such  a  Serbian 
type  that  the  Minister  took  the  trouble  of  having 
him  photographed.  His  death  was  doubtless  due 
to  fever  brought  on  by  overwork  and  exhaustion; 
but  the  lady,  with  whom  I  have  talked,  felt  sure 
that  he  had  been  poisoned.  What  supported  her 
in  this  theory  was  that  the  man  whom  he  had  taken 
as  his  assistant  had  disappeared;  carrying  with  him 
most  of  the  papers,  notes,  and  the  various  small 
objects  that  belonged  to  him. 

Seven  or  eight  years  after  this  I  met  in  Athens 


THE  MINNESOTA   HEIR 

Mr.  Arthur  J.  Evans,  now  keeper  of  the  Ashmolean 
Museum  at  Oxford,  with  his  wife — a  daughter  of 
Mr.  E.  A.  Freeman,  the  historian — who  had  come 
from  a  journey  in  Macedonia.  At  Prishtina,  or 
somewhere  near  there,  Mr.  Evans  had  bought  some 
fine  old  Serbian  gold  coins  from  a  man  who,  al 
though  he  seemed  to  have  a  large  quantity  of  them, 
would  only  show  them  one  by  one,  behaved  very 
mysteriously  and  suspiciously,  and  then  disap 
peared.  Some  of  these  coins  were  unique;  of 
others  only  one  or  two  specimens  were  known  to 
exist.  I  told  him  the  story  of  poor  August  Boyne, 
and  he  agreed  with  me  in  thinking  that  possibly  at 
least  a  part  of  the  Obilitch  treasure  had  been 
found. 


320 


THE  LOST  PLANT 


THE  LOST  PLANT1 


That  evening  we  were  playing  whist  at  the  Gov 
ernor's  house,  as  we  had  the  habit  of  doing  two  or 
three  times  a  week.  I  had  as  partner  my  French 
colleague,  M.  Dorat,  still  a  young  man,  who  had 
arrived  in  the  island  as  consul  two  or  three  months 
before.  I  had  not  seen  very  much  of  him,  for  it 
was  the  season  of  the  year  when  we  old  fellows  feel 
disinclined  to  much  movement;  with  the  excep 
tion  of  an  occasional  outing  in  a  boat,  or  on  a  don 
key,  I  had  confined  myself  chiefly  to  my  books  and 
my  garden.  With  most  of  us  our  gardens  were 
great  sources  of  amusement  and  delight.  There 
was  always  a  pleasurable  excitement  when  a  new 
package  of  seeds  arrived  from  Europe — for  every 
thing  grew  so  well  and  fast;  and  many  were  the 
tin-boxes  of  bulbs  and  plants  imported  in  the  gen 
erally  vain  hope  that  something  new  might  possibly 
be  found.  No  one  was  contented  with  the  produc 
tions  of  the  island;  we  all  wanted  something  dif- 

1  This  story  appeared  in  Scribner's  Magazine  under  the  nom  de  plume 
of  John  Pierson,  and  was  the  only  fiction  ever  published  by  Mr. 
Schuyler.  "  The  Minnesota  Heir  of  a  Serbian  King  "  is  a  true  story. 

323 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

ferent.  Each  had  his  own  little  fad,  and  mine  was 
to  reproduce,  in  this  tropical  country,  an  old-fash 
ioned  English  garden,  with  its  hollyhocks  and  lark 
spurs,  its  columbines  and  daffodils,  its  lavender  and 
rosemary  and  sweet-scented  shrubs  and  herbs.  Do- 
rat  had  not  been  there  long  enough,  we  thought, 
to  catch  the  prevailing  taste;  his  garden,  which 
was  large,  and  in  the  time  of  his  predecessor  had 
been  very  fine,  was  now  neglected  and  had  gone 
to  waste;  and  if  he  occasionally  put  into  it  some 
wild  plant  which  he  had  found,  it  was  only  for  his 
experiments  on  the  food  and  ways  of  life  of  the 
insects  which  he  was  always  collecting  and  study 
ing.  He  had  also  a  pronounced  taste  for  ornithol 
ogy,  and  for  natural  history  of  every  kind;  and,  in 
pursuit  of  specimens,  accompanied  by  an  old  native 
whom  he  had  somewhere  picked  up,  made  constant 
excursions — often  for  days  at  a  time — into  the 
swampy  and  little  known  interior  of  the  island. 

Just  behind  my  chair  was  standing  a  young 
English  officer,  named  Furniss,  apparently  a  family 
connection  of  the  Governor — at  all  events,  a  mem 
ber  of  his  official  and  personal  household — who  had 
arrived  by  the  last  steamer.  He  was  waiting  for 
the  end  of  the  rubber  to  take  a  hand,  and  while  the 
cards  were  being  dealt  was  asking  some  questions 
about  the  methods  of  travelling,  and  announcing 

324 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

his  intention  of  making  some  botanical  excursions. 
One  or  two  things  struck  me  in  what  he  said,  and, 
looking  over  my  shoulder,  I  jestingly  remarked, 
"  So  you  are  going  to  look  for  Humm's  Sim&a," 
As  I  turned  back  I  intercepted  such  a  look,  seem 
ingly  of  hatred,  from  beneath  the  dark  brows  and 
lashes  of  my  partner  that  I  almost  dropped  the 
cards  I  was  dealing.  There  was  something  which 
made  me  feel  thoroughly  uneasy.  Furniss  had 
started  a  topic  to  which  my  chance  remark  had 
given  more  interest;  and,  after  we  had  begun  to 
play,  the  conversation  still  went  on  behind  my  back. 
Although  my  partner  kept  control  of  his  game,  and 
made  no  mistakes,  I  could  see  that  he  was  listen 
ing  to  every  word  that  Furniss  said,  and  closely 
watching  every  movement  that  he  made.  I  grew 
more  and  more  nervous,  till  at  last  I  could  stand 
it  no  longer,  and  called  out,  rather  abruptly,  as 
others  thought :  "  My  dear  Furniss,  if  you  keep  on 
looking  at  my  cards  and  talking  of  botany  at  the 
same  time  I  shall  think  each  trick  a  new  and  rare 
species  and  shall  lose  all  the  points."  Furniss,  some 
what  offended  at  my  tone,  walked  away  from  the 
table. 

When  the  rubber  was  over  Dorat  withdrew,  by 
rights,  and  I  refused  to  play  longer,  which  was  mis 
interpreted  by  some  of  the  party,  as  was  also  a 

325 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

whispered  remark  of  mine  to  Furniss  in  passing, 
which  was  overheard  by  someone,  that  I  would  see 
him  again  later.  I  went  into  the  other  room,  to  a 
balcony  overlooking  the  sea,  and  lighted  a  cigar, 
while  reflecting  on  what  course  I  ought  to  pursue. 
The  fact  is  that  a  German  botanist  named  Humm 
had  discovered  in  this  island  a  plant  which  pos 
sessed  singular  curative  virtues,  used  among  the 
natives,  but  the  existence  of  which  they  carefully 
concealed.  Medically — as  Humm  had  shown  by 
experiments — it  was  as  important  as  cinchona  or 
condurango,  or  the  more  recently  introduced  coca. 
Humm  had  brought  away  a  sufficient  amount  of  the 
drug  for  it  to  be  thoroughly  tested  in  European 
laboratories  and  hospitals;  but  the  plant  had  never 
been  found  again.  One  academy  after  another  had 
offered  prizes  for  its  discovery,  which  in  the  aggre 
gate  then  amounted  to  a  large  sum — a  sum  suffi 
cient  to  encourage  an  enterprising  man  to  encoun 
ter  great  risks  in  its  search.  It  was  evident  from 
what  Furniss  said  that  he  had  come  out  to  look  for 
it;  hoping  that  his  connections  and  his  official  posi 
tion  would  enable  him  to  conduct  his  explorations 
more  easily  and  more  thoroughly  than  those  who 
had  gone  before  him.  Several  had  already  visited 
the  island  for  this  purpose;  but  they  had  either  fallen 
victims  to  the  climate,  or  had  given  up  the  quest 

326 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

in  despair,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulties  put  in 
their  way  by  the  natives.  It  was  equally  plain  to 
me,  from  his  conduct  at  the  card-table,  that  Dorat 
had  come  out  for  the  same  purpose;  although  he 
had  so  far  concealed  his  plans  and  his  interest  in 
plants,  in  order  to  blind  the  eyes  of  the  English. 
He  had  the  advantage  of  being  in  better  relations 
with  the  natives,  because  French  prestige  and 
French  influence  are  persistent  in  any  place  which 
has  once  been  under  French  rule;  and  the  only 
foreign  words  which  the  natives  used  were  also 
French.  Although  the  English  have  held  the  isl 
and  for  a  long  time  they  hold  it  simply  as  con 
querors,  and  have  never  succeeded  in  identifying 
themselves  with  the  people. 

I  had  not  been  smoking  long  before  I  was  joined 
by  Dorat,  who  was  evidently  looking  for  me.  With 
great  politeness  and  delicacy  he  offered  me  his  ser 
vices  as  to  a  colleague  in  difficulties;  and,  when 
he  saw  my  look  of  astonishment,  in  answer  to  my 
questions  told  me  that  everybody  believed  that  I 
was  to  have  a  duel  with  Furniss.  English  customs, 
we  see — especially  on  such  points — were  not  yet 
predominant  in  the  island;  and  duels  were  not  yet 
uncommon,  although  they  were  generally  innocu 
ous.  I  of  course  thanked  him  for  his  kindness,  and 
promised  to  call  on  him  if  I  stood  in  need  of  a 

327 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

friend;  but  explained  that  between  an  old,  irritable 
fellow  like  myself,  and  a  young  man  like  Furniss, 
there  would  probably  be  no  difficulty  which  could 
not  be  settled  with  an  explanation,  or,  if  need  be, 
with  an  apology.  The  talk  passed  on  to  other 
things,  when  suddenly  Dorat  asked,  "  How  did  you 
come  to  mention  the  Simcea  Hummiif  " 

"  Oh!  "  I  said,  "  that  is  an  old  idea  of  mine;  I 
thought  of  looking  for  it  when  I  first  came;  so 
that  I  naturally  suspect  every  fresh  man  of  the  same 
desire." 

"  And  you  never  did  look  for  it?  " 

"  No,  I  was  always  naturally  indolent;  I  broke 
my  ankle  a  week  after  I  arrived;  that  and  the  heat 
and  malaria,  and  the  bother  of  travelling  in  the  in 
terior  have  kept  me  quiet.  But  I  have  never  lost 
a  Platonic  interest  in  it,  and  if  you  find  it  I  shall 
congratulate  you  heartily." 

"  But  why  should  I  look  for  it?  " 

"  In  the  first  place,  my  dear  colleague,  why 
should  you  mention  it  at  all,  if  it  were  of  no  in 
terest  to  you?  And,  secondly,  you  must  know  as 
well  as  I  do  that  very  large  rewards  are  offered  for 
finding  it,  with  which  will  follow  a  wide  scientific 
fame.  Why  shouldn't  you  find  it?  You  are  young 
and  vigorous;  being  French,  you  have  influence 
with  the  natives;  you  already,  if  I  mistake  not, 

328 


THE   LOST  PLANT 

speak  something  of  their  language;  you  make  fre 
quent  shooting  excursions  into  the  interior;  and 
you  can  perfectly  well  make  botanical  experiments 
in  your  neglected  garden  at  the  consulate.  The 
spirit  of  old  Hume  would,  I  am  sure,  be  delighted 
if  you  should  carry  out  his  beneficent  intentions." 

"  You  call  him  Hume;   do  you  mean  Humm?  " 

"  Yes,  the  last  was  his  German  name;  but  when 
he  got  naturalized  in  America  he  was  so  laughed 
at  on  account  of  his  name  that  he  changed  it  to 
Hume." 

"  You  knew  him,  then?  " 

"  Yes,  I  met  him  first  when  I  was  quite  a  boy, 
when  I  joined  a  scientific  party  to  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains,  and,  as  I  had  been  a  comrade  of  Eaton  and 
Brewer,  was  much  interested  in  botany.  We  got 
to  be  very  good  friends  then;  but  I  had  almost  for 
gotten  about  him  until  I  met  him  again  when  I 
was  vice-consul  at  Tripoli.  He  had  come  there  to 
study  assafoetida  and  laserpitium  and  other  precious 
plants  which  the  ancients  obtained  from  that  region. 
I  was  able  to  lodge  him  in  my  house,  and  we  re 
newed  our  old  acquaintance;  you  know  he  died 
there,  or,  rather,  in  the  interior;  but  he  left  me  his 
papers,  and — well,  come  and  breakfast  with  me  to 
morrow,  about  twelve,  and  I  will  show  you  some 
thing  that  will  interest  you." 

329 


THE    LOST   PLANT 

Throwing  away  the  end  of  my  cigar  I  went  back 
to  the  drawing-room,  and  finally  found  Furniss — 
to  whom  I  at  once  apologized  for  my  brusque  lan 
guage — and  asked  him,  if  he  did  not  mind  my  limp, 
to  walk  home  with  me,  as  I  had  something  to  tell 
him.  He  readily  consented,  and  as  soon  as  we 
could  get  away  we  walked  down  the  quiet  tree-lined 
street  until  we  reached  my  garden.  Then  I  per 
suaded  him  to  sit  awhile  with  me  in  the  veranda, 
where  I  knew  that  we  could  not  be  overheard.  My 
faithful  servant  brought  us  out  narghilehs,  for  this 
souvenir  of  my  life  in  Asia  and  Africa  still  clings 
to  me;  the  broad-leaved  plants  looked  fantastic  in 
the  moonlight,  and  we  were  glad  to  neutralise  the 
strong,  heavy  odours  with  the  smoke  of  our  pipes. 
The  outlook  on  the  garden  gradually  brought  us 
to  the  subject  of  plants,  and,  after  we  had  got 
warmed  up  on  this  topic,  with  the  help  of  a  glass 
or  two  of  good  old  Madeira,  I  told  him  that  I  had 
overheard  enough  of  his  conversation  to  make  me 
understand  that  he  had  come  out  expressly  to  find 
the  lost  plant.  He  frankly  admitted  his  purpose, 
without  the  slightest  hesitation;  and  gradually  was 
led  on  to  talk  of  his  past  life,  of  the  influences  which 
had  moulded  it,  and  of  his  hopes  for  the  future. 

"  Well,"  I  said,  "  I  will  do  all  I  can  for  you;  and 
perhaps  I  can  give  you  certain  information  which 

330 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

you  do  not  possess.  But  I  must  be  fair  all  round. 
Dorat  is  a  colleague  of  mine,  with  whom  I  am  on 
the  best  possible  terms;  and  whatever  information 
I  give  you  I  must  give  him." 

"  Dorat,"  he  said,  "  the  French  consul,  who  was 
your  partner  to-night?  Has  he  come  here,  too,  for 
this  purpose?  " 

"  Yes;  I  never  suspected  it  till  this  evening;  now 
I  know  it.  He  is  coming  to  tiffin  with  me  to 
morrow;  and  the  best  way  to  manage  the  thing 
will  be  for  you  to  meet  him.  But,  as  I  want  a  wit 
ness  or  two,  bring  the  Governor  with  you.  I'll  send 
him  a  little  note  early  in  the  morning,  and  I  will 
try  to  find  one  or  two  others  also." 

"  Oh,  I  think  there  will  be  no  difficulty  about 
that,  as  the  Governor  has  already  told  me  of 
your  breakfasts;  besides,  to-morrow  is  Sunday, 
and  he  will  have  no  engagements  after  church. 
But  you're  as  solemn  and  mysterious  as  though 
some  great  event  were  impending.  What  is  the 
matter?  " 

"  The  matter,  my  dear  fellow,  is  simply  this,  that 
you  must  entirely  forget  all  that  I  tell  you,  and  act 
entirely  on  your  own  judgment.  Be  on  your  guard 
against  your  rival.  Never  trust  yourself  alone  with 
him,  if  you  meet  him  in  the  interior.  From  what 
I  saw  to-night  I  believe  him  quite  capable  of  kill- 

33i 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

ing  you,  if  need  be,  to  prevent  your  succeeding  to 
his  detriment." 

"  Not  so  bad  as  that,  I  hope." 

"  Not  a  word  more  ever  on  this  subject.  You 
know  all  that  I  fear.  Take  your  own  course.  We 
shall  see  you  to-morrow  at  noon." 


II 

Our  breakfast  was  unusually  pleasant,  for  I  had 
succeeded  in  getting  hold  of  M.  Blancsube,  one  of 
the  richest  and  most  hospitable  planters  of  the  isl 
and,  a  man  universally  liked  for  his  wit  and  his  good 
company,  and  respected  for  his  intelligence  and 
probity.  The  Governor  was  in  better  form  than  I 
had  ever  seen  him,  gave  us  amusing  stories  of  his 
experiences  in  other  colonies — and  he  seemed  to 
have  lived  in  some  capacity  in  nearly  every  part 
of  the  globe — and  by  great  good  luck  assisted  me 
by  appearing  in  an  entirely  new  and  unexpected 
character.  Apropos  of  some  of  the  fruit,  he  launched 
out  in  a  discourse  on  the  vegetable  productions  of 
the  different  places  where  he  had  been  which  would 
have  done  credit  to  Grant  Duff  himself. 

When  we  began  to  smoke  I  brought  out  a  port 
folio  and  showed  some  of  the  very  curious  things 
that  I  had  been  able  to  retain  in  my  wandering  life 

332 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

— autograph  letters  of  Bruce  and  Burckhardt;  a 
sketch-map  of  Humboldt;  a  relic  of  Connolly  and 
Stoddart  from  Bukhara  which  had  not  been  found 
by  Dr.  Wolff;  photographs  of  Convolvulus  Sabbatius 
and  Campanula  Sabbatia  which  I  had  myself  taken 
from  living  plants  at  Capo  di  Noli,  the  only  place 
in  the  world  where  they  grow;  and  a  few  similar 
things. 

"  You  are  an  amateur  photographer,  then?  "  said 
M.  Blancsube. 

"  Don't  be  alarmed  for  yourself,  monsieur,  there 
are  no  instantaneous  cameras  concealed  in  the  walls 
to  take  you  in  an  unguarded  moment;  I  photograph 
only  plants.  And  I  could  show  our  friends  here, 
if  they  were  not  already  too  learned  to  need  them, 
photographs  of  nearly  every  plant  growing  on  the 
island,  except  of  the  one  we  all  want  most  to  see, 
the  Simcea  Hummii.  I  can,  however,  show  you 
something  about  that;  but  before  I  open  this  en 
velope  I  must  make  a  bargain  with  them.  What 
I  want  is  the  drug.  At  one  time  I  should  have  been 
glad  of  the  fame  of  the  discovery,  but  now  I  am 
too  old  to  care  much  about  that,  as  well  as  of  the 
great  reward  offered  for  the  plant ;  but,  while  money 
is  always  an  object,  I  have  luckily  a  few  weeks  ago 
received  a  legacy  large  enough  to  enable  me  to  live 
wherever  I  please  in  tolerable  comfort.  Therefore 

333 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

if  I  show  you  now  what  I  have  carefully  preserved, 
in  the  hope  that  I  might  myself  some  day  be  fortu 
nate  enough  to  come  across  the  plant,  I  must  ask 
both  Dorat  and  Furniss,  or  whoever  is  the  dis 
coverer,  to  furnish  me  with  one  living  root,  after  he 
has  taken  proper  measures  to  secure  his  priority  of 
discovery." 

To  this  they  both  agreed,  and  after  telling  them 
in  detail  of  my  acquaintance  with  Humm  or  Hume; 
of  his  tragic  death  in  the  desert,  on  the  eve  of  an 
other  voyage  to  our  island;  and  of  how  he  came  to 
make  me  the  heir  of  his  secret,  I  showed  them,  first, 
a  careful  water-coloured  drawing  of  the  plant,  and 
then  a  dried  specimen  of  it  just  as  it  was  coming 
into  bloom.  Finally,  I  unfolded  a  leaf  of  paper  on 
which  Humm  had  drawn  from  memory  a  sketch  of 
the  locality  where  the  plant  was  found,  and  of  the 
route  which  he  had  taken  from  the  coast.  Unfor 
tunately  the  paper  had  got  worn  out  at  the  folds, 
from  being  carried  in  the  old  botanist's  pocket- 
book;  and  the  chart  was  so  illegible  and  confused 
as  to  be  of  comparatively  little  value.  The  aston 
ishment  and  interest  with  which  my  revelations 
were  received  by  all  present,  although  Blancsube 
needed  a  few  words  of  explanation  in  order  further 
to  understand  the  matter,  were  so  great  as  to  justify 
me  to  myself  for  the  little  coup  de  theatre  which  I 

334 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

had  prepared.  When  one  gets  old,  one's  vanity  is 
pleased  with  even  such  little  harmless  successes. 

While  the  map  was  being  carefully  examined  by 
the  Governor,  who  was  trying  to  identify  localities, 
Blancsube  suggested — what,  strangely,  never  oc 
curred  to  me — that  it  might  be  photographed. 
This  I  offered  to  do  at  once  and  to  give  both  Dorat 
and  Furniss  copies,  as  well  as  to  allow  them  the  use 
of  the  little  herbarium  I  possessed  and  of  all  my 
photographs  of  plants. 

"  But,"  I  said,  "  you  will  notice  from  Humm's 
note  that  the  plant  was  found  just  coming  into 
bloom  on  October  6th,  and  to-day  is  September 
2Oth.  If  either  of  you  intend  to  look  for  it  in  ear 
nest  you  must  lose  no  time.  You  will,  of  course, 
take  your  own  ways  of  announcing  the  discovery 
so  as  to  secure  the  priority;  although  I  believe  that, 
according  to  the  conditions  of  most  of  the  rewards 
offered,  the  plant  must  be  brought  back  in  a  living 
condition  and  planted  in  a  botanical  garden.  The 
Governor  has  one  here  under  his  charge,  though 
I  am  surprised  to  learn  to-day  that  he  takes  such 
a  personal  interest  in  it.  I  must  tell  you,  also,  that 
I  have  still  deposited  in  a  safe  place  a  bit  of  the 
drug,  which,  however,  is  not  unknown  to  others, 
and  which  will  serve  for  the  identification  of  the 
plant;  and  I  shall  be  greatly  pleased  if,  when  you 

335 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

find  it,  you  will  send  a  messenger  to  let  me  know. 
When  you  come  back  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show 
you  a  fairly  good  specimen  of  it  growing  in  my  own 
garden." 

They  all  laughed  at  my  last  remark,  which  they 
thought  a  mere  bit  of  chaff;  but  in  very  truth,  I  had 
a  few  days  before  planted  in  an  out-of-the-way 
place  a  tuber  which  I  had  every  reason  to  believe 
was  that  of  the  Simcza. 


Ill 

Within  the  week  both  Furniss  and  Dorat  started 
on  the  quest,  the  former  taking  the  route  which  he 
had  combined  with  the  Governor's  from  Humm's 
sketch-map;  and  the  latter  preferring,  on  hints  re 
ceived  from  the  natives,  to  begin  with  the  other  end 
of  the  island,  whither  he  went  by  sea.  For  some 
days  we  heard  nothing.  At  last  one  afternoon  a 
negro  brought  me  a  laconic  note  from  Furniss,  say 
ing,  simply :  "  I  have  found  it,  and,  with  due  in 
gratitude,  I  hope  that  I  am  ahead  even  of  you." 
I  immediately  went  out  and  looked  again  at  my 
precious  plant;  for  the  tuber  had  sprouted,  and  the 
rapidly  unfolding  leaves  were  beginning  (at  all 
events  to  my  imagination)  to  present  a  strong  re 
semblance  to  the  dried  specimen  given  me  by 

336 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

Humm.  I  am  ashamed  to  tell  how  many  times 
that  day  I  had  already  looked  at  the  plant;  and,  in 
deed,  I  was  beginning  to  grow  nervous,  anxious, 
envious,  and  jealous  of  my  rivals;  and  to  think  that 
I  had  made  a  precious  old  fool  of  myself  in  being 
so  generous  with  my  information.  After  all,  what 
difference  did  it  make  to  me  if  they  did  kill  each 
other — people  whom  I  hardly  knew?  But  as  the 
cool  freshness  of  evening  approached,  my  amiability 
returned;  and  I  resolved  to  go  to  the  Governor's 
and  invite  myself  to  dinner,  and  find  out  what  in 
formation  he  had  received;  for  I  felt  sure  that  he 
knew  something  more.  Sir  Thomas  was  in  very 
good  spirits,  but  could  tell  me  nothing  that  I  did 
not  know.  He  was  glad  to  see  me,  and,  for  a  won 
der,  we  were  quite  alone.  We  concluded  that 
piquet  would  be  better  than  the  usual  double- 
dummy;  the  card-tables  were  brought  out,  the 
lights  were  being  arranged,  and  the  soda-water  and 
glasses  exposed  on  the  side-table,  when  a  clatter  of 
hoofs  was  heard  coming  down  the  road,  and  in  a 
moment  more  a  message  was  brought  to  us  from  a 
coffee-planter  that  the  body  of  a  man  had  been 
found  at  the  bottom  of  a  precipice,  in  a  place  about 
twenty  miles  away,  but  hard  to  reach.  It  was 
thought  to  be  that  of  an  Englishman,  apparently 
a  scientific  man,  as  he  had  been  collecting  plants; 
VOL.  I.— 22  337 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

and  the  request  was  made  for  the  despatch  of  some- 
one  to  identify,  if  possible,  the  corpse,  with  instruc 
tions  as  to  its  burial.  We  had  no  question  but  that 
it  was  Captain  Furniss,  as  we  knew  of  no  one  else 
corresponding  to  the  description.  From  what  I 
knew,  or  rather  suspected,  it  flashed  through  me  at 
once  that  there  had  been  foul  play.  But  I  consid 
ered  it  best,  for  the  moment  at  least,  to  keep  my 
suspicions  to  myself,  as  they  might  be  entirely  un 
founded.  After  a  hurried  consultation  with  me  as 
to  the  best  course  to  pursue,  Sir  Thomas  decided 
that  two  or  three  men  from  the  hospital  should  go 
on  at  once  with  extra  horses,  and  that  he  and  the 
doctor  would  leave  before  daybreak,  driving  as  far 
as  the  road  was  practicable,  so  as  to  reach  the  field 
of  the  accident  at  the  earliest  possible  moment  in 
the  morning.  I  readily  acceded  to  his  suggestion 
to  accompany  him. 

We  had  little  time  for  sleep,  as  we  started  very 
early,  and  the  sun  was  just  rising  when  we  had  to 
leave  the  high-road  and  mount  our  horses.  Had 
it  not  been  for  the  errand  on  which  we  were  bent 
and  our  desire  to  hasten,  I  should  have  greatly  en 
joyed  this  early  ride  on  one  of  our  delightful  South 
ern  spring  mornings.  As  we  descended  the  ridge 
we  had  opposite  us  a  hill-side,  which  we  had  to  cross 
later,  covered  with  plantations  of  coffee  and  pepper, 

338 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

while  the  valley  below  was  green  with  the  sugar 
cane.  Flowers  of  all  kinds  grew  in  profusion  along 
the  roadside,  and  I  could  not  help  observing  them 
carefully  and  mentally  repeating  their  names.  But 
the  detour  was  long,  and  it  was  a  toilsome  march. 
That  the  body  was  that  of  Captain  Furniss  there 
could  be  no  doubt.  There  were  no  signs  of  stabs 
or  shots,  but  it  was  so  bruised  and  cut  by  the  rocks 
that,  although  it  had  been  carefully  covered  with 
leafy  boughs,  decomposition  had  already  begun, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  bury  it  as  soon  as  possible. 
Due  note,  however,  was  taken  of  its  position  and 
of  various  apparently  petty  details.  One  circum 
stance  I  could  not  help  noticing  at  once,  and  I  nat 
urally  called  the  Governor's  attention  to  it.  The 
botanical  specimen-box  lay  at  a  little  distance  from 
the  body;  it  had  evidently  been  opened  and  a 
search  had  been  made  among  the  plants  it  had  con 
tained;  for  they  were  lying  in  a  confused  heap,  not 
as  if  they  had  been  accidentally  shaken  out.  This 
certainly  looked  strange.  The  plant  that  was 
sought  for  was  not  among  them.  The  pressing- 
boards  were  missing,  and  as  I  felt  sure  that  he  or 
one  of  his  men  would  carry  them,  that  also 
seemed  strange.  Those,  however,  we  afterwards 
discovered,  caught  on  a  ledge  of  rock  above.  One 
of  the  men  climbed  up  with  difficulty  and  threw 

339 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

them  down  to  us;  they  were  still  strapped  together, 
but  the  drying  paper  contained  no  plants  of  any 
kind,  and  in  all  probability  they  had  not  been  used 
in  that  last  day's  excursion.  Out  of  pardonable 
curiosity  I  looked  carefully  at  every  sheet,  even 
holding  them  up  to  the  light;  and  it  seemed  to  me 
as  if  on  one  I  detected  the  outline  of  the  Simcea. 

With  the  consent  of  the  planter  who  owned  the 
land,  a  grave  was  dug  for  poor  Furniss  close  to  the 
spot  where  he  fell,  and  his  body  was  tenderly  and 
reverently  placed  in  it,  Sir  Thomas  reading,  in  a 
broken  voice,  the  English  burial  service,  with  only 
myself  to  make  the  responses.  We  resolved  to 
place  a  tablet  or  cut  an  inscription  upon  the  nearest 
rock  in  commemoration  of  this  martyr  to  science. 
I  could  not  help  thinking  of  a  similar  tablet  I  had 
once  seen  in  the  old  quarries  near  Syracuse  where 
the  Athenians  had  been  imprisoned  and  starved. 
But  that  was  to  an  American  midshipman,  named 
Nicholson,  who  had  fallen  in  a  duel  with  a  British 
officer,  in  maintaining  the  honour  of  his  flag,  in 
the  opening  years  of  the  century. 

It  needed  no  hint  of  mine  as  to  my  private  sus 
picion  to  induce  Sir  Thomas  to  proceed  to  a  minute 
investigation  of  the  rock  from  which  Furniss  had 
fallen.  For  that  it  was  necessary  to  return  to  the 
high  road,  proceed  along  it  some  distance  farther, 

340 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

and  then  turn  to  the  left  over  a  difficult  bridle-path, 
and  then  a  foot-path  among  the  rocks.  I  did  not 
feel  equal  to  this,  and  stayed  in  the  little  hut  on  the 
roadside  where  we  had  left  the  carriage;  while  Sir 
Thomas,  who  had  kept  up  wonderfully,  went  on 
with  the  others  to  the  scene  of  the  accident. 

The  report  which  they  brought  back  was,  in  one 
sense,  very  satisfactory.  The  place  from  which 
Furniss  had  fallen  was  identified,  close  to  a  splendid 
clump  of  that  lovely,  fragrant  flower  which  the 
natives  call  naruna — the  botanical  name  of  which 
escapes  me  now — which  was  somewhat  rare,  and 
was  the  finest  Sir  Thomas  had  ever  seen.  The 
marks  were  seen  where  Furniss's  foot  had  slipped, 
and  there  were  no  traces  of  a  struggle  or  of  the 
presence  of  anyone  else.  He  had  apparently  been 
engaged  in  securing  fine  specimens  of  the  naruna, 
when  a  treacherous  branch  or  twig  broke  and  down 
he  went.  Nevertheless  it  was  impossible  entirely 
to  exclude  the  hypothesis  that  he  might  have  been 
pushed  off  by  some  barefooted  native  coming  up  in 
silence  behind  him. 

We  had  wondered  what  had  become  of  Furniss's 
servants;  but  while  we  were  resting  from  the  fa 
tigue  and  emotion  of  the  day,  we  were  joined  by 
them.  They  did  not  yet  know  of  his  death.  Two 
mornings  before,  owing  to  the  illness  of  the  special 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

man  who  carried  his  traps  and  assisted  him  in  plac 
ing  the  specimens  between  the  drying-papers,  the 
captain  had  insisted  on  starting  out  alone,  with  the 
expectation  of  returning  in  the  course  of  a  couple 
of  hours.  It  was  only,  however,  towards  night 
that  his  absence  caused  any  apprehension.  They 
looked  for  him  in  vain  that  night,  and  had  been 
searching  for  him  without  result  ever  since.  So 
far  their  evidence  all  agreed.  They  utterly  denied 
having  met  any  other  white  man  for  several  days 
before  that,  and  had  seen  no  suspicious  character 
either  on  the  day  of  Furniss's  disappearance  or 
since.  They  had  not  seen  Dorat.  But  when  they 
tried  to  explain  why  they  had  not  brought  away 
the  whole  of  their  master's  collections,  or  even  all 
of  his  kit,  there  were  strange  and  suspicious  hesita 
tions  and  contradictions.  They  professed  to  know 
nothing  of  any  living  plants,  planted,  or  otherwise 
preserved  by  Furniss.  As  the  place  which  had 
been  the  captain's  last  head-quarters  was  a  long 
way  off  and  difficult  to  reach,  Sir  Thomas  decided 
not  to  go  himself,  but  to  send  one  of  the  men  from 
the  hospital,  on  whom  he  thought  he  could  thor 
oughly  depend,  back  there  with  one  of  Furniss's 
black  followers,  in  order  to  make  a  thorough  inves 
tigation  of  the  camp,  and  bring  away  everything, 
explaining  to  him  the  importance  of  the  matter. 

342 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

It  seemed  to  us  quite  plain  that  someone — 
whether  a  rival  or  a  native  herb-doctor,  or,  rather, 
herb-charmer,  or,  perhaps,  one  of  the  plantation- 
hands  who  had  discovered  the  body — had  searched 
the  botanical  case  found  near  the  corpse;  and  that 
someone  had  probably  also  searched  his  tent;  at  the 
same  time  we  had  no  actual  proof  that  Furniss  had 
yet  attempted  to  dig  up  and  remove  any  specimens 
of  the  plant,  even  if  he  had  found  it.  He  had  per 
haps  waited  to  do  that  until  the  instant  of  starting 
on  his  return,  when  it  would  be  in  the  more  devel 
oped  state.  Nor  did  we  find  out  anything  subse 
quently  to  make  us  change  that  opinion. 

We  were  just  taking  a  hasty  bite  before  starting 
on  our  return  to  town,  when  there  suddenly  came 
on  one  of  those  torrential  showers  which  are  not 
unusual  in  tropical  countries.  Fortunately  the  hut 
in  which  we  were  stood  on  high  ground,  or  we 
should  have  run  the  risk  of  being  swept  away. 
Rain  fell  in  sheets.  The  continued  thunder  and 
vivid  flashes  of  lightning  frightened  the  horses, 
while  the  poor  natives  cowered  on  the  floor  of  the 
hut  from  fear.  It  seemed  as  if  the  storm  would 
never  end;  but  just  when  the  thatched  roof  was  be 
coming  like  a  sieve,  and  we  were  beginning  to  be 
wet  by  the  drizzle,  the  storm  passed  away  as  sud 
denly  as  it  had  begun. 

343 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

It  was,  however,  impossible  to  move.  The 
ground  was  water-soaked  and  the  road  too  heavy 
for  our  vehicles;  more  than  that,  the  dry  bed  of  the 
little  stream  we  had  crossed  in  the  morning  was 
now  rilled  with  a  rapid,  raging  river.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  to  wait. 

By  sunrise  the  stream  had  fallen  sufficiently  to 
allow  us  to  proceed,  and  we  reached  the  town  with 
out  any  serious  difficulty,  but  through  what  a  scene 
of  desolation!  Everywhere  the  lowlands  were 
covered  with  gravel  and  mud;  good  land  had 
been  temporarily  ruined,  and  the  sugar-canes  were 
broken  down  and  destroyed.  We  heard  afterwards 
that  in  other  places  serious  damage  had  been  done 
to  the  coffee  and  spice  plantations. 

My  servant,  as  he  opened  the  door  for  me,  had  a 
careworn  and  dejected  look,  as  if  reproaching  me 
for  having  stayed  out  all  night;  and  when,  while 
waiting  for  a  cup  of  tea,  I  started  down  the  garden- 
path,  he  warned  me  to  be  careful  as  the  ground 
was  undermined  and  treacherous,  or  something  of 
that  sort.  A  fear  passed  through  my  mind,  which, 
alas !  was  only  too  well  founded.  The  consulate 
was  not  far  from  the  edge  of  a  little  stream,  which, 
in  swelling  so  suddenly,  had  cut  for  itself  another 
temporary  channel  and  had  swept  away  a  part  of 
my  garden — a  part  which  had  contained  many 

344 


THE   LOST  PLANT 

plants  which  were  dear  to  me,  and,  more  than  all, 
that  precious  plant  which  I  before  believed  and 
now  felt  sure  was  the  Simaa. 


IV 

Days  passed,  and  there  was  no  news  from  Dorat. 
The  accident  to  Furniss,  the  destruction  of  my  gar 
den,  and  the  silence  of  Dorat,  worked  so  strongly 
upon  my  nerves  that  I  became  disgusted  with  the 
island  and  everything  in  it,  and  I  had  serious 
thoughts  of  resigning.  My  work  had  not  been 
hard  at  this  post,  for  the  trade  with  the  United 
States  was  not  great,  and  American  ships  came  so 
infrequently  that  the  quarrels  and  complaints  of  the 
crews  were  rather  a  diversion  than  a  burden.  But 
a  few  busy  days  happened  to  come  just  then,  and 
made  me  feel  how  wretched  my  life  would  be  were 
I  deprived  of  just  that  kind  of  work  to  which  I  had 
been  accustomed  from  my  youth  up.  I  was  too 
old  to  engage  in  another  occupation — even  had  I 
needed  so  to  do — and  could  not  bear  the  thought 
of  absolute  idleness.  Besides,  the  position  itself  is 
a  pleasant  one  to  a  man  old  in  the  service,  who 
neither  overrates  its  advantages  nor  neglects  its 
opportunities.  Some  of  my  friends  used  to  think 
me  unpatriotic  because  I  had  lived  so  many  years 

345 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

abroad.  But  they  forgot  that  I  was  all  this  time 
in  the  Government  service;  and  I  am  sure  that,  if 
anything  will  make  a  man  patriotic,  it  is  to  feel  that 
it  is  his  sole  duty  in  life  to  guard  and  advance  the 
interests  of  his  country  without  other  cares  or  oc 
cupations.  He  is  not,  like  people  who  remain  at 
home,  distracted  by  the  struggle  for  existence,  and 
thinking  of  the  duty  he  owes  to  his  country  only 
when  drawn  on  the  jury,  or  dunned  by  the  tax-col 
lector,  or  inspirited  by  party  enthusiasm  just  be 
fore  an  election.  Abroad,  his  consular  or  diplo 
matic  duties  form  the  chief  object  of  his  life;  and 
distance  and  time  make  him  love  and  cherish  more 
some  manifestations  of  our  national  life  which,  it 
is  true,  might  after  a  long  absence  in  other  lands 
prove  irksome  to  him  were  he  living  at  home. 

I  therefore  thought  better  of  this,  and  sent  by 
steamer — to  be  telegraphed  from  Suez — a  request 
for  a  leave  of  absence,  to  be  taken  at  once.  Before 
resigning,  I  thought  I  would  go  home  on  leave, 
and  see  whether  I  could  not  obtain  promotion  or 
a  change  of  post;  but,  as  I  had  no  intention  of  ever 
returning  to  the  island,  I  proceeded  to  pack  up  or 
otherwise  dispose  of  my  goods  and  chattels. 

At  last,  one  morning  I  received  a  message  from 
the  gerant  of  the  French  consulate  saying  that 
Dorat  was  ill  with  malarial  fever  at  the  other  end 

346 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

of  the  island.  He  had  been  very  low  for  several 
days,  but  had  finally  roused  sufficiently  to  send 
word,  and  hoped  to  see  me  before  he  died.  Much 
as  I  could  have  wished  to  go  to  him,  the  journey 
was  at  that  time  beyond  my  strength.  We  decid 
ed  to  send  a  good  doctor,  who  agreed  that,  if  Dorat 
were  in  a  state  that  he  could  be  moved,  he  should 
be  brought  down  to  the  nearest  point  on  the  coast, 
and  from  thence,  if  possible,  to  Port  Philip  by  sea. 
I  even  gave  the  doctor  the  bit  of  the  precious  drug 
that  I  had  preserved  so  long,  explaining  its  quali 
ties,  with  the  idea  that  it  might  possibly  be  of  use. 

In  a  few  days  Dorat  was  brought  to  town,  very 
weak,  pale,  and  emaciated;  but  the  doctor  seemed 
to  think  that  he  had  passed  the  crisis,  and  that  if 
carefully  nursed  he  would  slowly  recover.  Al 
though  I  was  expecting  to  sail  in  the  next  steamer 
— for  I  had  received  a  favourable  reply  to  my  tele 
gram — I  felt  that  I  could  not  under  the  circum 
stances  leave  Dorat  in  this  condition,  and — to 
make  a  long  story  short — I  threw  up  my  passage, 
stayed  on,  and  devoted  myself  to  looking  after  him, 
making  him  comfortable,  and  cheering  the  hours 
of  his  convalescence  until  he  was  strong  enough  to 
be  sent  home,  when  we  came  to  Europe  in  the 
same  steamer. 

It  was  impossible  not  to  be  impressed  with  his 
347 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

patience,  his  gentleness,  his  strong  will,  and  his  de 
votion  to  science.  His  character  appeared  to  me 
in  an  entirely  new  light,  and  all  my  foolish  suspi 
cions  and  prejudices  speedily  vanished.  It  was  a 
long  time,  however,  before  I  dared  tell  him  of  the 
accident  to  Furniss,  and  of  my  own  personal  disap 
pointment.  To  this  he  seemed  to  pay  no  attention, 
and  I  said  nothing  more.  It  was  only  some  days 
afterwards  that  he  seemed  suddenly  to  remember 
the  incidents  just  preceding  his  journey  to  the  in 
terior,  and  inquired  how  Furniss  had  fared.  He 
was  evidently  sincerely  shocked  and  astonished  at 
the  story  I  had  to  tell  him.  Indeed,  at  first,  all 
memory  of  recent  events  seemed  to  have  passed 
away  from  him,  leaving  his  mind  a  blank.  When 
he  had  recovered  his  memory  he  felt  sure  that  just 
at  the  time  when  he  was  fighting  with  the  fever 
he  had  seen  and  handled  the  Simcea,  and  made 
preparations  for  its  transport;  intending  to  start  on 
his  return  on  the  very  day  when  he  was  stricken 
powerless.  But  these  may  have  been  delusions  of 
his  fevered  brain.  From  that  time  his  most  ardent 
desire  was  to  get  well  quickly  in  order  to  visit 
again  that  locality  where  he  was  sure  the  Simcea 
grew.  For  my  part,  I  tried  to  persuade  him  that 
we  had  probably  all  been  victims  of  a  delusion,  and 
that  the  quest  was  hopeless: 

348 


THE   LOST   PLANT 

I  should  perhaps  have  succeeded  in  this  had  not 
the  incoming  steamer  brought,  with  introductions 
to  me,  a  small  scientific  party  organised  and  sent 
out  by  Cornell  University  with  the  intention  of 
making  a  careful  exploration  of  that  and  the  neigh 
bouring  islands,  which  had  been  never  really  ex 
plored  since  the  time  of  Bougainville,  and  then  only 
superficially.  Among  the  special  objects  of  the 
expedition  was  that  of  discovering  the  Simcea,  as 
well  as  the  finding  of  some  traces  of  the  dodo.  My 
part  of  the  play  was  ended;  and  I  therefore  not  only 
gave  all  the  information  that  I  could — telling  these 
enthusiastic  young  men  the  outward  story  of  the 
most  recent  events;  but  I  also  made  over  to  them 
for  the  museum  of  the  university  all  my  collections 
and  special  books,  about  the  disposal  of  which  I 
had  been  somewhat  in  a  quandary.  I  have  not  yet 
heard,  however,  that  the  expedition  has  discovered 
either  the  lost  bird  or  the  lost  plant. 


349 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abdul  Hamid  Pasha,  61 

Abdul  Medjid,  Sultan,  59 

Abdullah,  192 

Academy,  Plato's,  154 

Acropolis,  the,  153,  154 

Adee,  A.  A.,  letters  to,  164-166 

Adrianople,  73,  103,  no,  115,  116 

JEgean,  the,  118 

"  A  Fugue  of  Bach,"  209 

Ahmed-Aga,  67,  68,  71 

Ahmed  Mukhtar  Pasha,  113 

Ahmed  Tefik  Pasha,  117 

Ahmed  Vefyk,  114 

Akhrosimof,  Maria  Dmitrievna, 
241 

Aksakof,  208 

Aksakof,  Madame,  208 

"  A  Landlord's  Morning,"  227, 
253 

Alassio,  170,  172,  175,  178,  184,  186, 
190,  197,  204 

Albano,  136 

Albany,  Countess  of,  186 

Alexander,  Emperor,  238 

Alexander  I.,  Emperor,  234 

Alexander  III.,  143 

Alexandria,  191 

Alexandrova,  Madame,  212 

Alexandrovitch,  Count  Peter  (Tol 
stoy),  232 

Alexis,  232 

Alexis,  Grand  Duke,  34,  35,  53 

Ali,  192 

Alliance,  U.S.S.,  204 

America,  26,  39,  45,  58,  131,  143, 
147,  149,  151,  152,  169,  170,  181, 
185,  187,  188,  190,  195,  211,  278, 
308 

America,  180 

"  American  Diplomacy,"  169,  183 


"  American  Marriages  Abroad," 
185 

Americans,  the,  59 

Amersfoort,  134 

Andersen,  Hans  Christian,  186 

Andreievitch,  Count  Dimitri  (Tol 
stoy),  232 

Andreievitch,  Count  Dimitri  (Tol 
stoy),  232 

Andrews,  James  Bruyn,  18,  174 

"  Anna  Karenin,"  219,  251,  264,  270, 
295,  299 

Annenkof,  262,  263 

Anthim,  133 

Arabs,  the,  104 

Aral,  Sea  of,  42 

Archaeology,  American  School  of, 
166 

Arenenberg,  190 

Arizona,  43 

Armenia,  121 

Armenians,  183 

Armstrong,  147,  148 

Arnold,  93 

Arnold,  Madame,  273 

Ashmolean  Museum,  320 

Asia,  26,  31,  52,  76,  105,  213 

Asia,  Central,  42,  49-51,  53,  54,  82, 
83,  277 

Assiout,  194 

Assym  Pasha,  127 

Athenceum,  the,  141 

Athens,  119,  128,  152,  160,  162,  164, 
166,  169,  174,  179,  184,  187,  199,  319 

Auerbach,  274,  280 

Austin,  123 

Austrians,  the,  91 

Azarian,   117 

Aziz  Pasha,  60,  61 

Azof,  136 


VOL.  I.  — 23 


353 


INDEX 


Baden-Baden,  21,  210,  254 

Baker,  112 

Baldwin,  Admiral,  161,  175 

Balkan  Peninsula,  316 

Balkans,  the,  73,  75 

Balzac,  237 

Bancroft,  28,  275 

Baring,  Walter,  62,  73,   78,  82,  97, 

121 

Bartenief,  208,  238 

Basel,  189,  195 

Bashi-bazouks,  61,  63,  66,  67 

Bashkirs,  283 

Basili,  119 

Bassano,  179 

Batak,  67,  68,  71,  87,  91 

Bath,  132 

Bath  and  Wells,  Bishop  of,  106 

Battenberg,  Prince  Alexander,  120 

Bauer,  Caroline,  190 

Bayard,  Mr.,  180 

Bayazed,  307 

Beaconsfield,  93,  96,  97 

Beauharnais,   Countess,  244 

Beethoven,  290,  292 

"  Beethoven's  Last   Quartet,"   209 

Bek,  the,  47 

Belgrade,  56-58,  90,  93,  143,  146,  168, 

303»  304.  3",  3*3,  3I4»  3J7-3i9 
Benkendorp,  119 
Benningsen,  233 
Berlin,  148 
Berlioz,  210,  212 
Berne,  188,  189 
Besika,  Baie  de,  115 
Bibikof,  Mr.,  219 
Bibikofs,  the,  221 
Bilibin,  240 

Birmingham,  131,  133,  214 
Bismarck,  98 

Black  Sea,  the,  100,  104,  in,  116 
Elaine,  148,  181,  182,  184,  185 
Blessington,  Lady,  186 
Bluntschli,  188 
Boker,   Geo.   H.,   54,  56,  82;   letter 

from,  83-85 
Boker,  Mrs.,  84 
Bolkonsky,  233,  240-242 
Bologna,  179,  186 
Bonaparte,  Madame  Mere,  186 


Bonivard,  189 

Bonstetten,  189 

Borodino,  battle  of,  238,  247,  291 

Bors,  216 

Bosnia,  56,  312 

Bosphorus,   the,   64,    104,    108,   117, 

123 

Boyardjik,  69,  75 
"  Boyhood "    (Tolstoy),    227,    251, 

252,  255 
Boyne,   August,  306,   308,  309,  312, 

313.  3l6~32o 
Bragge,  Mr.,  131 
Brandenburg,  309,  313 
Bratiano,  145 
Breecker,  134 
Brescia,  179 
British  fleet,  116 
Browning,  195 
Browning,  Mrs.,  180 
Bruce,  Countess,  189 
Bruce,  Mrs.,  105 
Brunswick,  120 
Bubastis,  195 
Bucarest,  91,  98,  137,  139,   142,   144, 

149,  168 

Buckingham  Palace,  107 
Bukhara,  47,  48 
Bukharans,  the,  26 
Bulgaria,  59,  62,  63,  76,  82,  85,  86, 

88,  94,  99,   102,   105,   115,   118,   120, 

121,    130,    132,    138-140,    145,     180, 

312;  Prince  of,  120 
Bulgarian    Church,    59;     Constitu 
tion,  85,  86,  91;    Deputation,  172; 

National  Assembly,  132,  133 
Bulgarians,   62,   91,    112;    petitions 

of,  79-81 
Burgas,  112 
Burmah,  148 
Burnaby,  105,  112 
Burutina,  67 
Buyukdere,   108,  in 
Byron,  108,  177,  178,  189,  233,  252 

Cairo,    167,    170,    184,    187,    190-192, 

194,  196,  198,  203,  204 
Cairoli,  135 
Calcutta,   184 


354 


INDEX 


Calice,  91 

Calvert,  Consular  Agent,  116 

Calvin,  189 

Cannes,  172 

Canova,  180 

Canton  Thurgau,  190 

Cardwell  (U.  S.  Diplomatic 
Agent  and  Consul  General  at 
Cairo),  192 

Carlsbad,  204 

Carnarvon,  Lord,  106 

Carol  (King  of  Roumania),  145 

Castrocaro,  177 

Catacazy,  130 

Catherine,  243 

Catherine,  Grand  Duchess,  143 

Catherine  I.,  232 

Catherine  II.,  82,  84,  240 

Catherine,  Queen,  of  Sweden,  38 

Caucasus,  the,  23,  208,  223,  226,  228, 
253.  254 

Cavendish,  Lord  and  Lady  Fred 
erick,  106 

Century,  the,  195 

"  Century  Dictionary,"   171 

Cesnola,  General  di,  148 

Chamberlain,  Mr.,  131 

Chambers,  General,  113,  115,  116, 
120,  129 

Charriere,  Madame  de,  189 

"  Chartreuse  de  Parme,"  244 

Chateaubriand,   186 

Chaudordy,  90,  95 

Chefket  Pasha,  69,  75,  93 

Chemnitz,  305,  313 

Cherbuliez,  189 

Chicago,  180,  308 

"  Childhood  "  (Tolstoy),  227,  251, 
252 

"  Childhood  and  Boyhood,"  299 

Chillon,  189 

China,  147 

Chinese,  the,  129 

Chiozzia,  186 

Christina,  Queen,  186 

Chur,  190 

Circassians,  the,  63,  no,  112 
Clarke,  Campbell,  93 

Coburg,  Prince  of,  172 

Coffey,  Mr.,  31 


"  Colonial  New  York  —  Philip 
Schuyler  and  his  Family,"  6 

Colorado,  43 

Columbia  College,  17,  108;  Uni 
versity,  179 

"  Confessions "  (Tolstoy),  224, 
231,  251,  272,  282 

Conference,   the,   85,   88,   90,   92-97, 

99,  119,  121 

Constant,  Benjamin,   189 
Constantinople,   54,   56,  57,   59,   60, 

73,  75,  77,  81,  85,  88,  90,  91,  95-98, 

100,  108,    no,    in,    114-116,    123, 
125-127,    142,    153,    154,    165,    167, 
184 

Constantinovitch,      Count     Alexis 

(Tolstoy),  232 
Constanz,  189 
Conway,  Moncure  D.,  letter  from, 

76 

Cooper,  186 
Coppet,  189 
Corfu,  165 
Gorilla,  186 
Corinne,  180,  186 
Cornell  University,  6,   169,  179 
Correggio,  40 
Corsica,  104 

Corti,  Count,  95,  too,  114,  124 
Cosmopolitan  Club,  106 
Cossacks,  25 
"  Count  Julian,"   178 
Cox,  S.  S.,  18 
Crete,  117 

Crimea,  the,  23,  227,  228 
Currie,  96 

Curtin,  Andrew  G.,  31,  32,  34,  42 
Cyclades,  the,  167 

Dagmar     (Grand     Duchess,     now 

Empress  Dowager),  34 
Daily  News,  London,  62,  64,  78,  118 
Dalziel,  140 

Danilefsky,  274,  294,  300 
Dante,  178 

Danube,  the,  227,  319 
Daphne,  154 

Dardanelles,  the,  114,  116,  120 
"  Dead  House,"  the,  239 
"  Dead  Souls,"  239 


355 


INDEX 


Dear-Bekir,  80 

De  Forest,  Mr.,  18 

Dekeleia,  162,  163 

Delos,  167 

Denisof,  241 

Denis-Davydof,  241 

Derby,  Earl  of,  62,  63 

Derkos,  113 

Despatch,  the,  117,  120,  124,  126 

Diano  Castello,  176 

Diano  Marina,   176 

Diary,  93-96,  113-130 

Dick,  231 

Dickens,  237 

Dilke,  Ashton,  106 

Dilke,  Sir  Charles,  105,  106 

Dimitri,  Tolstoy,  224,  225 

Dimitroff,  Peter,  65 

Djura  Beg,  46 

Dolgoruky,  233 

"  Don  Juan,"  233 

Dormer,  General,  199 

Dostoiefsky,  239 

Dresden,  41,  233 

Drina,  the,  306 

Droz,  188 

Drubetskoy,  240,  241 

Druzhinin,  229,  258,  259 

Duff,  Grant,  105 

Dumas,  Alexandre,  186,  236,  237 

Eastlake,  40 

Ebers,  195 

Edgebaston,  131 

Edinburgh,  Duke  of,  119,  120 

Edmunds,   185 

Edwards,  Miss  A.  B.,  195 

Egypt,  148,  188,  194,  197,  202 

Egyptian  Jews,  the,  195 

"  Egyptian   Princess,"   195 

d'Ehrenhoff,  93 

"  Ein  Neues  Leben,"  274,  275 

Einsiedeln,  190,  195 

Eleusis,  154 

Eliot,  George,  186 

Elliot,  Sir  Henry,  61,  62,  91,  93,  96, 

97,  ioo 

Elliot,  Lady,  93 
Elliot,  Miss,  93 
Emir,  the,  46,  47,  48 


Emperor,  the,  of  Russia,  34-36,  53, 

120,  143,  160,  244 
Empire,  Ottoman,  103 
Empress,  the,  of  Russia,  34,  35,  120 
England,  62,  64,  76,  77,  90,  101,  104, 

130,  132,  149,  169,  187,  219,  236 
English  fleet,  114,  116,  117 
Erasmus,  189 
Erik  XIV.,  38 
Erzeroum,  no 
Eski-Saara,   75 
Euboea,  167 
Euclid,  196 

"  Eugen   Baumann,"   274,  275 
Eugene,  Prince,  313 
Europe,  76,  86,  95,  98,  105,  121,  126, 

151,  211,  274,  279,  305 
Evans,  Arthur  J.,  320 
Evening  Post,  30,  275 

Fallmerayer,  234 
Farak,  192,  203 
"  Fathers  and  Sons,"  20,  259 
"  Faust,"  258,  259 
Feodor  Andreievitch  (Tolstoy),  234 
Feodor    Petrovitch,     Count     (Tol 
stoy),  234 

Ferdinand,  Prince  of  Bulgaria,  172 
Fet,  260,  262 
Field,  Cyrus,  174 
Finland,  38,  39 
Fish,  Mr.,  55,  103 
Fiske,  J.  S.,  letters  to,  73-75 
Flaubert,  267 

"  Fliegende  Hollander,"  41 
Florence,  186 
Forster,  Mr.,  18 
Forster,  105,  106 
Foscolo,  Ugo,  186 
France,  98,  99,  130,  169,  231,  236,  250 
Frankfurt,   184 
Franklin,  General,  34,  37 
Freeman,  E.  A.,  78,  106,  320 

Gabrovna,  75 
Gaillard,  Colonel,  120 
Galata,  120 

Galkin-Vrassky,  Mr.,  210 
Gallipoli,   no,  117 


356 


INDEX 


Galloway,  115 

Garda,  Lago  di,  179 

Garfield,  President,  149 

Garfield,  Mrs.,  149 

Gargiulo,  112,  114 

Garrison,  Mr.,  285 

Gazette,  Pall  Mall,  102 

"  Gebir,"  178 

Geneva,  189,  234 

Geneva,  New  York,  44 

Gennadius,  107 

Genzano,  136 

George,    King    (of   the   Hellenes), 

154,  iSS,  161-164,  i 68 
Germany,  98,  99,  231,  233,  236 
Gibb,  Mrs.,  201 
Gibbon,  108,  189 
Gladstone,  W.  E.,  101-103,  105,  106, 

132 

Glinka,  210,  248 
Godkin,  E.  L.,  181 
Goldoni,  186 

Golovatchef,  General,  128 
Gontcharof,  229 
Goodwin,  Professor,  166 
Gordon,  192 

Gore-Browne,  General,   107 
Gortchakof,  235 

Gortchakof,  Prince,  35,  227,  244 
Gosselin,  107 
Gourko,  118 
Grant,   General,   106,   120,   122,   124- 

128,  130 

Grant,  Mrs.,  124-126,  133,  134 
Grant,  Jesse,  123 
Grant,  Louis  Bedell,  191 
Greece,  107,  136,   152,   158,   167,   168, 

312 

Greek  Church,  the,  164 
Greeks,  112 
Greene,    Francis   V.,    113,    116-118, 

121-123,  I25,  128-130 
Greenough,  Professor,  166 
Grigorovitch,  229 
"  Guelderland,  History  of,"  134 
Gustavus  IV.,  189 

Haden-Keui,  113 
Hadji-Petros,  Colonel,  156 
Hafiz  Pasha,  67 


Hague,  the,  134 

Haider  Bey,  75 

Hakluyt  Society,  100 

Hamburg,  233 

Hampton,  147 

Harcourt,  106 

Hartley,  Sir  Charles,  105 

Harvard,  166 

Hawthorne,  187 

Haxtun,  Captain,  115 

Helbert,  129 

Helen,  Grand  Duchess,  209 

Heliopolis,  196 

Helsingfors,  38 

Herald,  New  York,  49,  64,  171 

Herodotus,  196 

Herzegovina,  56,  68 

Hesse,  Prince  Alexander  of,  120 

Hieropolis,  196 

Higginson,  Captain,  115,   124 

Hohenzollern,  138 

Holland,  133,  138 

Hornby,  Admiral,  115 

Howard,  Cardinal,  135 

Howard,    Maurice,    173-175;    letter 

to,  200 
Hoyos,  144 
Hunt,  Leigh,  186 
Huss,  John,  189 

Ignatief,  Countess,  91,  126,  129,  130 
Ignatief,     General,     93-95,     97-100, 

118-121,  125-127,  129,  130 
Ikon,  163,  215 
Illitch,  Christo,  81 
Illitch,  Stef,  81 
Ilya  (Tolstoy),  216 
India,  148 
Indris,  231,  232 

Iowa,  56;    State  University  of,  179 
Irtenief,  251,  252 
Islam,  104 
Ismail,  234 
Ismailia,  204 
d'Istria,  87 

"  Italian  Immigration,"  188 
"  Italian  Influences,"   186 
Italy,  104,  170,  172,  236 
Ithaca,  New  York,  3,  4,  7,  18,  44 
Jaffa  Railway,  114 


357 


INDEX 


James,  G.  P.  R.,  186 

Jansen,  134 

Japan,  147 

Jeremiah,  196 

Jerusalem,  104,  114 

Jewell,  Marshall,  49,  50,  52,  55 

Jews,  32 

Johns  Hopkins  University,  169, 179 

Jominis,  the  two,  189 

Jones,  148 

Joseph,  195,  196 

Kalakaua,   148 

"  Kalevala,"  20,  38 

Karl,  Archduke,  233 

Karshi,  48 

Karystos,  167 

Kashgar,  129 

Katkof,  207,  208,  237 

Kaufmann,  General,  52-54,  83,  128, 
129 

Kazala,  43 

Kazan,  224,  225,  291,  293 

Kazzanlyk,  75 

Kearsarge,  the,  161 

Keller,  Count,  113 

Kenler,  190 

Kennan,  Mr.,  210 

Khiva,  44 

Khodjent,  46 

Khokand,  77 

Kief,  29 

King,  Charles,  108 
King,  Miss  (Mrs.  Eugene  Schuy- 
ler),  letters  to,  63,  71,  86,  92,  96- 
101;    marriage  of,  108 
King,  Rufus,  108 

King,  the  (of  Roumania),  144,  169 
King,  the  (of  Serbia),  169 
Kirghiz,  26 
Kitab,  46 
Klissura,  69 

Kock,  Paul  de,  236,  237 
Kokan,  42,  46,  47 
Kblnische  Zeitung,  64 
Konigsmark,  Aurora  von,  136 
Kossovo,  battle  of,  306 
Koszciuszko,   190 
Kraguyevatz,  317,  318 
Kryzhanofsky,  General,  248 


358 


Kulm,  battle  of,  234 
Kuragin,  240 
Kutshura,  74 
Kutuzof,  245 

"  Lalla  Rookh,"  13 

"  Lamentations,"  196 

Lancaster,  the,  161,  162 

Landor,  177 

Lanskoy,  Count,  210 

Latouche-Treville,  114 

Lausanne,  189 

Lavater,  190 

Lawson,  96 

Layard,  114,  115,  126 

Lazar,  August  Boyne  de,  305 

Lazar,  Frederic  de,  309 

Lazar,  King,  306,  307,  308,  319 

Lazar,  Prince,  306 

Le  Bon,  128 

Leontief,  207 

Leontius,  232 

Leopold  I.,  190 

"  Le  Roman  Russe,"  244 

Leuchtenberg,  Duke  of,  244 

Leuchtenberg,  Prince  Eugene,  119 

Levant  Herald,  114,  116,  121 

Levin,  223,  252,  253,  270,  271 

Lewis,  Charlton,  18 

Liguria,  171 

Lincoln,  45 

Liubimof,  Professor,  207 

Liuxiala,  38 

Loftus,  Lord  Augustus,  132 

"  Lohengrin,"  41 

London,    56,   77,    78,    101,    105,    133, 

140,  148,  150 
Long,  Dr.,  62 
Longfellow,  178 
Longinof,  243 
Louis  Philippe,  190 
"  Lucerne,"  253 
Luther,  190 
Luzerne,  190 
Lynch,  Jeremiah,  193,  194 

Macedonia,  115 

MacGahan,  44,  64,  96,  113,  115,  u6, 
119,  121,  123,  125,  129 


INDEX 


Mahmoud  Pasha,  no 

Mahn,  Dr.,  17 

Makarof,  N.,  214 

Mantua,  186 

Maragha,  194 

Maria  Feodorovna,  Empress,  245 

Marie        Alexandrovna,         Grand 

Duchess,  36,  37 
Marie  Louise,  186 
Marie  (Tolstoy),  223,  224 
Maritza,  the,  73 
Marlborough  Club,  105 
Marlborough  House,  107 
Marmora,  Sea  of,  112 
"  Marriages  Abroad,"  180 
Marsh,  Geo.  P.,  135 
Matarieh,  196 
Maynard,  Mr.   (U.  S.  Minister  at 

Constantinople),  75,  115,  124,  130 
Maynard,  James,  112,  117,  120 
Maynard,  Mrs.,  117 
Mediterranean,  the,  100,  101 
Mehemmed  AH  Pasha,  127 
Mentone,  172,  175 
"  Mes  Memoires,"  251 
Metastasio,  186 

Metropolitan,  the  Armenian,  117 
Metropolitan,    the    (of    Bulgaria), 

139 

Metropolitan,  the  (of  Greece),  155 
Metropolitan,  the   (of  Roumania), 

149 

Metropolitan,  the  (of  Russia),  34 
Michael,    St.,    Prince   of   Tcherni- 

gof,  235 

Michaeli  Vodu,  156,  161 
Michell,  32 
Mijatovitch,     Mr.       (See     Miyato- 

vitch),  146 

Mikailofsky-Danilefsky,  248 
Milan,  245 

Milan,  Prince,  57,  58 
Miliutin,  208 
Miller,  Lieut.,  123 
Millet,  118,  123,  125,  129 
Milner-Gibson,  126 
Milosh,  306 

Milosh,  Obilitch,  307,  308 
Minnesota,  304,  305 
Mirsky,  116 


Miyatovitch      (See      Mijatovitch), 

303,  3i3 
Modena,  245 
Molino  di  Sopra,  170 
Monaco,  138 

Montagu,  Lady  M.  W.,  186 
Monte  Carlo,  174,  175 
Montenegro,  56,  119,  121 
Moore,  178,  186 
Morava,  317 
Morgan,  Lady,  186 
Morloy,  114 
Moscow,  21,  26,  29,  35,  42,  136,  207- 

212,   214,   216,   224,    233,   239,   242, 

243,  249,  250,  261-264,  272,  291,  294 
Moscow  Gazette,  the,  207 
Moses,  196 
Motley,  Mr.,  106 
Mott,  General,  114 
Mouy,  114 
Mozart,  292 
Mundella,  105 
Murad  I.,  307,  308 
Murad,  no 
Muravief-Karsky,     Nikolai     Niko- 

laievitch,  246 
Mussin-Pushkin,  225 
Mussulmans,  67,  70,  112,  312 

Mzensk,  269 

Nadustratz,  Yefrem,  311 

Namyk  Pasha,  117 

Naples,  186,  232 

Napoleon,  186,  233,  234,  236,  249 

Napoleon,  Jerome,  188 

Napoleon,  Louis,  190 

Nation,  the,    18,   179,   180,   185,    186, 

203,  285 

Nekhliudof,   Prince,  253 
Nemi,  136 
Neuchatel,  188,  189 
Neva,  the,  36 
New  Englander,  18 
New  Haven,  17 
New  Path,  the,  18 
New  Princeton  Review,  180 
New  York,  4,  39,  49 
New  York  (City),  3,  44,  55 
Nice,  172 
Nicholas,  Emperor,  229,  238 


359 


INDEX 


Nicholas,    Grand    Duke,    94,    "8, 

123,  125,  1*7,  128,  130 
Nicholas  (Tolstoy),  223,  224 
Nicholson,  Admiral,  161 
Nihilism,  238,  272 
Nikolas  Hitch  (Tolstoy),  234 
Nile,  the,  191,  194,  197,  198 
North  American,   the,    18,    19,    180, 

181,  185 

Norton,  C.  E.,  19 
Novikof,  243,  253 
Nykerk,  134 

Obilitch,  306,  317,  32o 

Obilitch,  Andria,  309,  3",  3'3.  3*6 

O'Connell,  Dr.,  135 

Odessa,  28,  95,  141 

Odoiefsky,  Prince,  22,  23,  207,  208', 
211,  212 

Odoiefsky,  Princess,  207,  210-213, 
242 

Ofrosimof,  Madame,  241 

Olenin,  252,  253 

Olympia,  167 

Onore,  116 

Orel,  266 

Orenburg,  25,  26,  42,  43,  213 

Orr,  Mr.,  42,  49 

Osten  Sacken,  Baron,  53 

Osten  Sacken,  Countess,  224 

Osterman,  Count  Feodor  (Tol 
stoy),  234 

Osterman,   Count  Ivan   (Tolstoy), 

234 

Osterman-Tolstoy,  Count,  233 
Ostrofsky,  229 
Otho,  160 
Oxford,  320 

Pakoff,  37 

Palazzo  Altemps,  135 

Palgrave,  106 

Panaguiourichte,  80 

Panagurishta,  66,  70 

Paracelsus,  189,  195 

Paris,  21,  36,  58,  105,  107,  120,  148- 

150,  184,  231 

Paris,  Comte  de,  106,  107 
Parma,  170,  186,  245 
Paul,  Emperor,  234 


Paul,  Grand  Duke,  160,  166 

Pavlofsky,  260 

Payerm,  189 

Pears,  116 

Pennsylvania,  32 

Pentelicus,  Mt.,  154 

Pera,  81,  93,  109,  126,  1-7,  142 

Peroffsky,  Fort,  44 

Perushtitsa,  66,  74 

Pestalozzi,  189 

Peter,  232 

Peter  Parley,  286 

Peter  of  Savoy,   189 

Peter  the  Great,  163 

"  Peter  the  Great,  Life  of,"  133, 
i35»  137,  MO,  164,  165,  179 

Petritch,  69 

Petroffsky,  45 

Petrofsky,  53 

Phare  de  Bosphore,  115 

Phelps  (U.  S.  Minister  at  Vien 
na),  148 

Philippopolis,  61,  70,  71,  74,  76.  86, 
89 

Pierre,  252-254 

Pierrepont,  Mr.,  106 

Piraeus,  154 

Pisa,  178,  186 

Plato,  196 

Plevna,  no 

Poles,  the,  233 

Political  Science  Quarterly,  188 

Polonsky,  264,  269-270 

Porte,  the,  60-62,  88,  90,  98,  99,  113, 

"5 

Porter,  John  A.,  20 
Possagno,  179 
Post,  the,  181 
Poussin,  40 
Praga,  233 
Prangius,    188 
President,  the  (Grant),  55 
"  Prince  Serebryanny,"  232 
Prince,  the   (of  Bulgaria),   138,   139 
Prince,  the  (of  Serbia),  142,  146 
Prinkipo,  117,  119 
Prussia,  King  of,  315 
Pushkin,  209,  210,  239,  290 
Pyramids,  the,  193 
Pythagoras,   196 


360 


INDEX 


Queen,  the  (of  the  Hellenes),  155, 

160,  162-164,  166 
Queen,    the    (of    Roumania),    144, 

145 

Queenstown,  21 
Ouirinal,  the,  135 

Radetsky,  116 

Radolinsky,  Count,  124 

Radonitch,  119 

Raphael,  40 

Rapperschwyl,  190 

Rasgrad,  121 

Ravestyn,  134 

Read  (U.  S.  Minister  at  Athens), 

155 

Red  Book,  52,  53 

Reouf  Pasha,  130 

Reuss,  Prince,  124 

Revel,  29,  31 

Reynolds,  40 

Riviera,  the,  170,  199,  201,  219 

Robert  College,  61,  62,  64 

Robeson,  Captain,  124 

Rocky  Mountains,  39 

Rodosto,  112,   113 

Rogers,   186 

"  Roi  des  Montagnes,"  156 

Rome,  131,  133,  134,  137,  150-152, 
159,  183,  184,  186 

Rossini,  186 

Rostoptchin,  Count,  241,  245,  230 

Roumania,   138,   152 

Roumania,  Prince  of,  98 

Roumanian    Government,   the,    137 

Roumele  Hissar,  64 

Round  Table,  the,  18 

Rousseau,  189 

Royal  Asiatic  Society,  English,  92 

Royal  Geographical  Society,  Eng 
lish,  92 

Rump  el  may  er,   174 

Rurik,  208,  235 

Ruskin,  40,  180,  186 

Russia,  20,  28,  31,  32,  39,  49,  53,  54, 
76,  84-86,  93,  94,  96,  104,  109,  130, 
187,  207,  208,  210,  214,  228,  230,  235, 
242,  254,  256,  263,  272,  275,  276, 
282,  299 

Russia,  Emperor  of,  132, 143, 160, 209 


Russian  Archives,  the,  208,  238 
Russian  Government,  the,  53,  54 
Russian    Messenger,    the,    207,    237, 

243 

Russians,  the  (in  Asia),  52 
Rustchuk,  139 

Saadoullah,  121 
Sackingen,   189 

Safvet  Pasha,  94,  95,  115,  117,  121 
St.  Gall,  189,  190 

St.  Petersburg,  21,  22,  39-43,  48-50, 
52,  54,  56,  82-84,  120,  130,  207,  209, 

212,    229,    230,    234,    243,    256,    292 

St.  Sophia,  92,  115 

Sainte-Beuve,  21 

Sala,  George  Augustus,  93,  100,  107 

Salisbury,   Lord,  90,   91,  93-100 

Salisbury,  Lady,  91 

Said,  179 

Salonica,  93 

Saltykof,  Madame,  240 

Saltytchikha,  the,  240 

Samara,  270,  276 

Samarcand,  42,  47,  48 

Sandwich  Islands,  147,  148 

San  Francisco,   194 

San  Michele,  204 

San  Remo,  175 

San  Stefano,  118,  119,  121,  122,  125- 
128,  130 

Saratof,  42,  43 

Saros,  Gulf  of,  117 

Sava,  the,  306,  309 

Saxe-Weimar,  Grand  Duchess  of, 
116 

Saxony,  305,  308,  317 

Schaeffer,  Mrs.,  letters  to,  186,  194 

Schleppel,   189 

Schliemann,   157 

Schliemann,   Madame,   157 

Schneider,  Mr.,  64,  119,  121 

Schongraben,  246 

Schopenhauer,  237 

Schuyler,  Eugene,  birth  and  an 
cestry,  3;  boyhood  and  youth,  8- 
20;  Consul  at  Moscow,  21-31; 
visit  to  Orenburg,  25,  26;  Con 
sul  at  Revel,  31;  Secretary  of 
Legation  in  St.  Petersburg,  31- 


361 


INDEX 


56;  journey  to  Central  Asia,  42- 
49;  Consul  General  and  Secre 
tary  of  Legation  at  Constanti 
nople,  56-130;  visits  to  Bulgaria, 
63-81,  86-89;  Consul  at  Birming 
ham,  131-133;  Consul  General  at 
Rome,  134-136;  Charge  d'Af- 
faires  and  Consul  General  at  Bu- 
carest,  137-152;  visit  to  America, 
149-152;  Minister  to  Greece, 
Serbia,  and  Roumania,  152-169; 
visit  to  America,  169;  residence 
in  Alassio,  170-190;  Diplomatic 
Agent  and  Consul  General  at 
Cairo,  187-204 

Schuyler,  Mrs.  Eugene,  161-163, 
i73>  177,  180,  190;  letters  to,  141- 
149,  192 

Schuyler,  George  Washington,  4-8 

Schuyler,  Mrs.   G.  W.,  7,  8 

Schuyler,  Philip  Pieterse,  4 

Schuyler,  Walter,  39 

Scott,  Mrs.,  84 

Scott,  Sir  Walter,  174 

Scribner,  Matilda  (Mrs.  G.  W. 
Schuyler),  6 

Scribner,  U.  R.,  7 

Scribner's  Monthly,  135,  185 

Secretary  of  State,  the,  55 

Sedgwick,  Miss,  186 

Segurs,  the,  250 

Seraskierat,  the,  127 

Serbia,  56,  57,  58,  121,  146,  152,  itfc, 
303-306,  309,  312,  3i8 

Serge  (Tolstoy),  216,  222 

Serof,  212 

Sessbeicin,  A.  Enuceron,  89 

Sevastopol,  229,  248,  254,  256,  300 

Shabatz,  306,  309,  312 

Shakespeare,  268 

Shams-el-Nessin,  199 

Shaw,  132 

Sheffield,  214 

Shelley,  177,  178,  189 

Sherman,  General,  130 

Sherman  (Senator),   185 

Shipka  Pass,  the,  116 

Shumadia,  306,  309,  311,  312 

Shumla,  139 

Siam,   148 


Siberia,  42,  238,  239 

Sickles,   General,   143 

Silesia,  314 

Silivria,  113 

Simpheropol,  229 

Sinaia,   144 

Skobelef,  113,  116,  128,  129 

Skobelef,  General,  119 

Slichtenhorst,  Arent  van,   134 

Slichtenhorst,  Hendrik  van,  134 

Sliven,  70 

Slivno,  74,  75 

Smalley,  G.  W.,  105,  106 

Smith,  148 

Smith,  Eustace,  106 

Smith,  Goldwin,  106 

Smollett,  180,  186 

"  Smoke,"  255 

Sobolefsky,  211 

Sofea  Andreievna  (Countess  Tol 
stoy),  215,  222,  299 

Sokol,  306,  311,  312 

Sophia,  70 

Sordello,  186 

Soudan,  the,  192 

Southey,  178 

"  Souvenirs,"  251 

Souzo,  Hospodar,  156 

Souzo,  Prince,  156 

Spain,  23 

Spasskoe,  255,  268,  270,  272 

Spedding,  106 

Sphinx,  the,  193 

Stael,  Madame  de,  185,  186,  189 

Stamboul,  103,  112 

Stamford,  Mrs.  Leland,  156,  157 

Stanley,  194 

Stanley,  Lady,  of  Alderley,  107 

Staro-Lidovskaya,  227 

Stchetmin,  235 

Stebatchef,  119 

Steherbatchef,   121,   130 

Stendhal,  186,  244,  245 

Stillwater-on-the-Hudson,   4 

Stockmar,  190 

Stoilof,  139 

Strangford,  Lady,  87 

Stremoukhoff,  53 

Sturgis,  Russell,  letters  to,  22,  166, 
167,  171 


362 


INDEX 


Suez,  204 

Suez  Canal,  37 

Suleiman,  192,  193 

Sultan,  the,  104,  in,   112,  127,  128, 

130 

Suvarof,  232 

"  Swiss  Associations,"  189 
Switzerland,  187 

Taine,  21 

Tamerlane,  307 

Tangiers,  183 

Tashkent,  42,  44 

Tatiana  (Tolstoy),  216 

Taunton,  101 

Tchaldja,  113 

Tchardjui,  48 

Tchekmedje,  113 

Tcherkasky,  Prince,  208 

Tcherlow,  112 

Tchernaya,  battle  of  the,  228 

Tchernigof,  231 

Telegraph,  Daily,  93,  96 

Tell,  William,  190 

Terek,  the,  227 

Thayer,  Professor,  166 

"  The  Cossacks,"  218,  227,  251,  254, 

267 

"  The  Decembrists,"  238,  239 
"  The  Incursion,"  227 
"  The  Morning  of  a  Proprietor," 

225 

Theocritus,  166 
Therapia,  in 
The  Times  (Russian),  259 
Thiers,  248,  249 
Thorwaldsen,  186 
"  Thousand   Miles   up   the   Nile," 

195 

Thrace,  115 

Thurn,  Fraiilein  von,   136 
Times,  London,  28,  83 
Times,  the,  123 
Timmins,   Samuel,   131 
Tinos,  167 
Tirnova,  70,  75,  133 
Tiuchef,  208 
Tobolsk,  183 
Tolstoy,  Count  Leo,  21,  26,  27,  185, 

186,    207,    210,    212,    213,    216-220, 


223-225,  227-232,  235,  236,  238,  239, 

242,  244,  245,  249-267,  269,  270,  272- 

275,  278,  280-284,  285,  286,  289,  290, 

293-299 
Tophane,  123 
Toppfer,  189 
Touchard,  Captain,  114 
Trandafil,  68 
Trebizond,  no 
Tribune,  the,  85,  121,  126,  127 
Tricoupis,  157,  159 
Tricoupis,  Miss,  158,  159 
Trockurof,  235 
Troppmann,  231 
Trubetskoy,  235,  241 
Tseretelef,    Prince,    64,    74,    75,    93, 

94,   116,   119,  121,   129 
Tsesarevitch,  the,  34,  35 
Tuckerman,  C.  K.,  119 
Tula,  214,  216,  263,  266,  298 
Turguenief,    20,    21,    210,    223,    229- 

231,  254,  255,  259-266,  268-273 
Turkey,  45,  46,  59,  89,  96,  104,  123, 

128,  131,  227 
Turkish  fleet,  117 
Turkish  Parliament,  114 
Turkistan,  54,  102 
"  Turkistan,"  92,  128 
Turkomans,  52 
Turks,  the,  58-61,  66-68,  72,  86,  87, 

89,  93-100,   103-105,   in,   113,   114, 

121,      123,      126,      127,      131,      140,     3O6, 
307,    310,   312,    313 

Tuttle,    Herbert,    letters    to,    184, 

187 
Twiller,  Rykert  van,  134 

"  Uarda,"  195 

Undine,  the,  167 

United  States,  76,  261,  304,  305 

Ura  Tube,  46 

Ural,  the,  26 

Urgut,  46 

Urutsi,   71 

Vadian,  190 

Valnief,   Count,  54 

Vandalia,   the,   99,    122-124,    126-128 

Van  Rensselaer,  134 

Vatel,  188 


363 


INDEX 


Venice,  179,  186,  204,  316 

Verestchagin,  273 

Viega,  69 

Vienna,   41,   85,    147,    148,    151,    171, 

Vieusseux,    178 

Vincent,  Sir  Edgar,  140 

Vivian,  Lady,  192 

Vladimir,   Grand  Duchess,   143 

Vladimir,  Grand  Duke,  26,  53 

Vladimir,  the,   129 

Vlangali,  General,  53 

Vogue,  Vicomte  de,  244 

Volga,  the,  25,  42,  276,  290 

Volkonsky,  241,  242 

Volkonsky,    Princess  Marie,   234 

Voltaire,  189,  225 

Voronovo,  245 

Vrefsky,  Baron,  228 

Vuk  Brankovitch,  307 

Wagner,  41 

Wales,  Prince  of,  107 

"  War   and   Peace,"   213,   218,   219, 

233,    236-239,    243,    250,    251,    264, 

267,  269,  291,  299 
Washburn,  Dr.,  61 
Washington,  28,  54,  55,  103,  124, 

144,  149,  152,  169,  182,  184,  197 
Waterloo,  244,  245 


Watts,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  174 
"  Wood-cutting,"  228 
Woolson,  Constance,  198 
Wordsworth,  178 
World,  the,  30 
Wortley,  Lady  Mary,  180 
Wright,  Arthur  W.,  15 

Yale  College,  n,  20 

Yale  University,  15,  179 

Yamboli,  71,  74,  75 

Yasenki,  214 

Yasnaya  Polyana,  26,  27,  214,  216, 

219,    223,    225,    230,    262,   263,   266, 

275,  281,  283,  290,  294,  299 
Ycung,  John  Russell,  123 
"  Youth  "   (Tolstoy),  228,  251,  252, 

257 

Yushkof,  General,  290-292 
Yushkof,    Madame,    215,    224,    293, 

294 
Yverdon,  189 

Zancoff,  Mr.,  140,  145 
Zeitung,  Kolnische,  64 
Zia,  Yussuf,  104,  114 
Zichy,  Count,  91,  95,  100 
Zschokke,  189 
Zurich,  187-190 
Zwingli,  190 


364 


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